Fiery Passion
by Number I of the Tri-blade
Summary: It starts out as a normal day for Rei until the shrine receives and unexpected visitor. A beautiful girl claiming to be Chad's fiance arrives and insists that Chad leave the shrine forever and return to his true family and life. How will Rei react to this and what will Chad decide? Rei will learn that sometimes you don't truly know how much people mean to you until they're gone.
1. Chapter 1

It was an early morning and Rei Hino slept peacefully under the warmth of her bed, in her room at the Hino shrine. The morning sun peeked in through the window blinds and made the young girl begin to wake up. She yawned a little and drowsily looked over at her alarm clock, which was just about to go off. She quietly reached over and turned it off before the alarm sounded and then pushed the covers off her body, and rose to her feet to begin the day. As the dark haired beauty dressed herself in her light grey all girl's school uniform, she picked up on sounds from another room that had become all too familiar to her. It was the sound of her small yet lecherous grandfather bossing around his 'apprentice', Chad. His real name was Yuuichirou, but he preferred everyone to refer to him by a nickname since it was shorter and he seemed to like it more. Rei didn't know where the name came from but never really cared enough to ask. In fact, when it came to Chad, she often never really cared at all.

Rei clasped her grey skirt around her slim waist and buttoned her blouse while she thought back to the strange way in which the young man had come to live there. The first time she saw him, he was laid out on the steps of their sacred shrine like some bum. It wasn't an impressive sight in the least; Rei didn't think much of him at all and had hoped he would leave soon after. Astonishingly though, he had begged Rei's grandfather to take him on as a shrine apprentice. When asked his reasons, he answered with something along the lines that he wanted to better himself. But Rei knew better; Chad had taken one look at her and decided to hang around to try and impress her. It was a sweet gesture, but Rei had seen similar things before and wasn't really interested in him. Rei's grandfather had seen through Chad as well, and decided to work the boy so hard that he would run off and never come back. Rei's grandfather may have been a real lecher, but Rei knew he loved her very much and was very protective of her. Her grandfather had been the one to let her stay there at the shrine on account of her strained relationship with her father. The thought of this made her happy and smile a little to herself, at least there was one man in her life that cared for her. But to both Rei and her grandfather's surprise, not only did Chad never try to run away; he never so much as voiced a single complaint. The bum had actually turned out to be useful and hardworking. Maybe there was more to Chad than Rei gave him credit for, or maybe he just really had the hots for her. She wasn't sure which.

Once Rei had dressed and brushed her hair, she quickly grabbed her book bag and headed in to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast. Her grandfather was sitting in his usual spot eating while Chad stood over the stove finishing things up. Her Grandfather looked up from his plate when he saw his granddaughter walk in and said, "Well good morning there, Rei-chan."

Chad heard this and quickly looked over at his shoulder to see Rei sitting at the table. He began to stutter as usual and said, "Oh umm hey there Rei! Good morning. Did you sleep well? You're usual is already made how you like it."

"Thank you." Rei said simply then paused for a second and added, "You're burning yourself."

"Huh? What do…you….oh….OW!" Chad cried out when he looked down to see that he had placed one of his hands on the burner and just now noticed. He quickly ran over to the sink and ran some cold water over his hand.

"There you go again, you youngin! How many times have I told you that you have to concentrate! At this rate you'll never be more than a fumbling apprentice!" Rei's grandfather scolded, wagging his finger a little and shaking his head then busted out laughing hysterically from the comical scene.

"Yes, Sensei!" Chad said frantically.

Rei tried her best not to laugh as well but in the end covered her mouth politely and let out a small giggle. She hoped he hadn't hurt himself too badly, even though it was kind of humorous. As Chad scrambled about the kitchen, Rei couldn't help but take note of his disheveled appearance. It certainly fit with the sort of image he portrayed to everyone, that of a lazy slacker. His long brown hair was always un-kept and in front of his eyes so that you couldn't even see them. And he always had a good amount of stubble on his face. Maybe some girls were in to that grungy look, but not Rei. It wasn't that Chad was bad looking, but he was definitely no Mamoru. Now there was a dreamy guy. He was tall, dark, handsome and so much more. He always seemed so cool, mature, and well put together; as if nothing could catch the guy off guard. He and Rei had, well at least she thought they had, a small thing between the two of them when they had met. Unfortunately it had been nothing more than a one sided crush on Rei's half. If it hadn't been over before, it was definitely finished once she and the rest of the sailor scouts learned of their true pasts and that Usagi and Mamoru were reincarnated lovers. It had hurt Rei at the time, but she had gotten over it and felt truly happy for Usagi, even though the dumpling head did drive her nuts sometimes.

Rei quickly snapped out of these thoughts and quickly started to eat so that she wouldn't be late. As she shoveled down her food, she noticed the nice taste. That was definitely one good thing about Chad, he was surprisingly a very good cook. Coincidentally he always seemed to make Rei's favorite dishes and had learned to make them well. Rei quickly finished her breakfast and put her dishes in to the sink before she grabbed her bag and hurried on to school before she became late. As she approached the front gate of her campus she took a look at her wristwatch to see that she was right on time as usual, and even had a few extra minutes than usual to spare. Unlike the other scouts, Rei went to a very exclusive high class school. Her father was high up in politics and it had been his choice for Rei to go there. Rei didn't get along with her father but it was a good school and she liked it, so she couldn't complain.

Rei saw some of her classmates walking through the front gates and was just about to join them when she heard the sound of someone loudly calling her name from behind. She turned to see Chad running after her, carrying a bento box wrapped in a small cloth.

"Rei! You forgot this!" He called out to her as he ran closer, panting for breath. She wished he wasn't being so loud, but it only got worse because just as he came close enough his sandal got caught on a small broken section of the side walk and he tripped and fell forward. Chad had been running full force to the momentum pushed him forward and he ended up falling right on top of Rei, taking them both to ground below.

Rei gasped out as she felt herself fall on to her back, but luckily she hadn't hit her head. She would have expected something like this from Usagi. She blinked a bit but then her eyes widened and she blushed in embarrassment once she realized the situation the two of them were in. Chad was lying right on top of her, and in front of her classmates who she could now hear snickering about the sight.

"Oh wow, big fail on my part. Rei, are you okay? I'm so sorry." He apologized honestly and then quickly picked himself up and held his hand down to her.

"I'm fine….you idiot." Rei grumbled under her breath. She was far too embarrassed to let him help her up so she stood up herself and grabbed her book bag and lunch; she could feel the eyes of everyone around piercing through her which only made her more embarrassed and ashamed. She looked up angrily at Chad and yelled out, "Why can't you do anything right, you idiot?! Maybe you're okay constantly embarrassing yourself, but can you at least not pull me in to it?"

Chad rubbed the back of his head a little and nodded, "Yeah, sorry again Rei. It was an accident; I just hope you're not hurt. Anyways I need to get back to the shrine, so have a good day." Chad then turned and started to run back to the shrine before Rei's grandfather got fed up waiting.

Rei sighed a bit and brushed the dust off of her uniform to see some of her classmates waiting on her. Rei rolled her eyes a bit and couldn't wait to hear whatever it was they were going to say. Since her school was prestigious, most of the girls that went were all from very well off families. They walked in to the classroom and sat down before class. One of the girls looked over to Rei and asked while grinning, "So Rei, who was that scruffy looking guy? He your boyfriend? I didn't know you were in to slumming around."

"What? Of course not! He's just some guy that works at my grandfather's shrine, that's all. I'm not sure what you mean by slumming, but you're wrong." Rei said defensively. "Please, me and Chad? That's ridiculous."

"That's a relief. It's good to know that you've got good standards, Rei. Although personally I don't know how you could ever want to be around someone like that every day. I think I might die if it was me. He looks like a fail in not only looks but brains too." Another girl chipped in which made the others laugh a little more.

Rei frowned a little and replied, "Well that's not very nice, and Chad's not all that bad."

"Are you sure? I've seen guys like that before, and they're all dirty, untrustworthy, and not a single redeeming quality. In other words, a complete loser!" The first girl said which made the girls laugh even more.

Rei stood to her feet and slammed the open palms of her hands down on to the surface of her desk and exclaimed, "Shut up! Just shut up! All of you! You don't know what you're talking about, and you certainly don't know a thing about Chad. He's a good guy, with a good heart. Sure, he messes up a lot of times, his grooming his horrible, and can act like a doofus. But he's a sweet guy who always tries his best and works really hard, even though he might fail; which is a lot more than I can say about any of you."

After Rei's little outburst, no one else said anything. The teacher then entered the classroom and everyone turned forward in to their seats and class began as usual. Rei wrote along in her book as she listened, but was still frowning a little. She knew that she always gave Chad a hard time, but that was different. She didn't ever mean it to be cruel, unlike her classmates. But then she started to think about what she had said to him; it had actually been pretty cruel. He had just been trying to help her and she lashed out at him for a simple accident. Rei then decided that when she returned to the shrine after school that she'd apologize and then thank him for always being so nice to her.

Soon it became the afternoon and school was over for the day. Rei quickly made her way back to her family's shrine so that she could apologize and make things right with Chad, so that she could clear her conscience. She ran up the stone stairway to the top of the shrine. She saw Chad and her grandfather on top of one of the buildings, repairing the roof. Rei slowly walked up as Chad hammered in some nails. Rei looked up and called out in a kind voice, "I'm home. Hey Chad!"

Chad's head immediately looked up when he heard Rei's sweet voice in his ears and accidentally brought his hammer down on his thumb. "Youch!" He cried out and the quickly grabbed on to the roof, as he almost fell off. Rei's grandfather simply started to laugh.

"Hey, be careful you big dummy." Rei called out playfully, "If you fall this time, then I won't be there to break your fall. Anyways, when you get a minute can you come see me? I want to tell you something." Rei then walked in to the house to change in to her miko uniform and begin her chores.

When Rei left, her grandfather looked over at Chad with accusing eyes and said, "Oh! What's this about Rei 'breaking your fall'? Is that some sort of new slang?"

"Wh-what! No Sensei! Of course not." Chad quickly responded.

"Well I'll give you minute…when you're dead! You're not good enough for my granddaughter and you never will be, so remember it. Now c'mon I still have lots and LOTS of work for you to do!" Rei's grandfather said and dragged him off to another chore since they had finished up the roof repairs.

"Y-yes Sensei!" Chad responded simply as he was pulled away to another chore. This time it was to clean the toilets.

Rei came out a few minutes later in her red and white miko uniform to see her grandfather and Chad nowhere in sight. She shrugged and figured she just talk to him later on whenever she got the chance. She grabbed her bamboo broom and began to sweep along the stone walkways outside the shrine for a few minutes.

"Umm…excuse me?" A soft voice came out which made Rei look up. She was surprised to see a beautiful girl a few years older than herself. She had shimmering blonde hair and bright blue eyes. For a moment Rei thought it was Minako, there were definitely some similarities. The girl was dressed in the latest fashion clothing and looking around the shrine curiously.

"Yes, can I help you with something?" Rei asked, figuring this girl was another shrine visitor.

"Yes, I am looking for someone. A young man named Yuuichirou Kumada. I was informed that he was staying here, do you know him?" the girl asked.

"Yuuichirou…..oh! You mean Chad? Yeah, he's around here somewhere. Umm, who are you?" Rei asked, she wondered what a girl like her would want with Chad.

"Oh yes, how rude of me. I'm his wife." The girl said simply with a small bright smile on her face.

* * *

That seems like a fun place to stop for now. I thought of this idea yesterday and have been wanting to try it since then. Rei is probably my favorite of the scouts, I love her personality and Chad is such a fun character. I hate they never really had enough development so I'm doing my own. I hope everyone enjoyed so please leave a review or comment if you want and I will be updating whenever possible. Hopefully writers block doesn't strike.


	2. Chapter 2

The moment the girl said that she was Chad's wife, Rei's eyes widened in shock and she dropped the broom on to the ground. It made an echoing noise when the bamboo hit the stone pavement. "You're…..his…..wife?" Rei stuttered.

"Yes…that's correct. Umm, are you alright, sweetheart?" The older girl asked, concerned by Rei's strange reaction. "Are you feeling okay?"

Rei then grabbed her stomach and started to laugh uncontrollably, as she tried to keep herself from falling back. She was laughing so hard that it almost hurt. "You….you're…..Chad's…wife….haha…hah! That's…hilarious!" Rei laughed out. It was so funny that she almost had tears in her eyes. She wondered if this was some sort of weird practical joke Chad was playing. It didn't make a lot of sense but it sure was hysterical.

"Umm, did I say something funny?" The girl asked. She was very confused by Rei's behavior and was starting to wonder if this girl was right in the brain. "This is very important; I need to see Yuuichirou right now. So please, take me to him."

Rei stopped laughing and looked up at this strange girl. She seemed dead serious. Maybe she was just a good actor, but Rei followed along. Rei nodded and said, "Alright then, I'll take you to…'Yuuichirou'."

Rei led the girl in to the shrine and looked around for a moment before she found Chad and her grandfather. She found them in the main temple. "Hey Chad, you have a visitor, a lady who is asking to see you. She says she's your….heh….wife." Rei said, she couldn't even say it with a straight face. She didn't know what was going but it was funny.

The girl had been walking behind Rei, and when she saw Chad her eyes lit up and she threw her hands up in the air. "Yuuichirou! Darling! Where have you been!?" The girl called out enthusiastically and then ran up to Chad. She threw her arms tightly around his neck.

"K-Kasumi!? What are you doing here?" Chad asked in shock as the girl appeared and ran up to him, hanging on to him without warning.

Rei's eyebrows furrowed a bit and she crossed her arms as she watched the sight in front of her. This had now officially stopped being funny. Rei's grandfather's reaction though was just a tad bit different. He saw the gorgeous young woman walk in and his pervy instincts couldn't help but take over. He grinned playfully and looked the young woman up and down for a bit. "Well now! What's a pretty young thing like you want with my bumbling apprentice, here?"

"Like I said, Yuuichirou here is my husband." Kasumi said happily, a big smile spread across his face.

"Kasumi, what are you talking about? You're not my wife!" Chad said, his face blushing red.

Rei's ears perked up and she looked straight up when she heard this. She knew what the girl was saying was a load of bull, it was all a lie. Rei didn't know why, but she felt relieved.

"Sounds to me like you two have some history together. Why don't we all go in to our living room and you can explain the whole thing." Rei's grandfather said eagerly and took the girl's hand and led her in to their home. Rei soon found herself sitting in their home on the floor at their living room table. Rei was across from Chad and his 'wife', who was sitting as close as possible to him. Rei's grandfather was sitting on the side closest to Kasumi.

"First off, I just wanted to thank you both for looking out for my sweet Yuuichirou here. I know he can be a lot to handle, heh." Kasumi started.

"Yeah yeah, so are you two really married or what? Because I don't see either of you wearing rings." Rei asked. she had quickly become annoyed with the entire situation at hand. She couldn't believe that Chad was possibly married this entire time and hadn't told them.

"Oh yes, I'm sorry about that. It's just a habit of mine. You see, we're not married…yet. But we might as well be. We've been engaged for years now. You see, Yuuichirou and I have been the best of friends ever since we were small children." Kasumi began and then paused to run her hand over Chad's stubble a little then continued, "Despite his…rugged appearance, Yuuichirou here actually comes from a very wealthy and prosperous family; and so do I. Our families have been great friends for generations, and so they decided when we were both young that the two of us shall be happily married. I'm so sorry to say, but I'm afraid that I have come to take him back with me. I do so hope you two will wish us all the love in the world."

As Rei listened to the story, under the table her hand that sat on her lap started to clinch, and her fingers curled in to the fabric of her skirt tightly. "You don't say….so you're Chad's best friend?" Rei asked. There was a hint of doubt in her voice.

Kasumi smiled and nodded then replied, "Oh yes, of course! We used to do absolutely everything together. We even bathed together as children."

"Gee….that's just great. I'm so glad you shared that with us." Rei said sarcastically. Her eyes locked on Chad.

"Kasumi! You didn't need to tell them that kind of stuff." Chad said, embarrassed.

"That's nice, that's very nice. Don't you mind them." Rei's grandfather said with a bit smile. He had a bit of drool leaking out from the edge of his mouth.

Chad sighed a little, his bangs covering his eyes like always. Rei wondered what kind of look he had in his eyes at that moment. The young man looked over to his betrothed and said, "But Kasumi. It isn't time for me to leave yet and I still have plenty of time. Plus I can't leave Rei and Sensei right now. I've made a commitment to them and this shrine. It'd be wrong of me to take off like this, just out of nowhere. Now please, go back and explain the situation to my parents. There's still much I have to do. Tell them I'll be back once I'm done, and not sooner."

Before Kasumi had a chance to reply, there was a knock on the door. "Oh, that must be the others." Rei said and quickly jumped to her feet. She then headed to the door to open it. Talk about perfect timing, Rei was hoping for an excuse to get out that room. She opened the door and led the other four sailor scouts in, along with the cats. Everyone said hello and Rei welcomed them in, but then quickly guided them in to her room without explanation. When they reached her room, Rei sat down near the door which she kept cracked open. She kept peeking her head out the door to try to listen in to what was being said in the other room.

The scouts watched Rei's strange behavior with curiosity and interest. "Rei? What's going on?" Usagi asked.

"Shh, keep it down. I can't hear what they're saying." Rei said, waving her hand. They weren't saying anything at the moment it seemed and Usagi wouldn't shut up. Rei sighed and quickly gave the other sailor scouts and update on what was going on.

Minako peeked her head out with Rei, taking a look at the new girl and said, "Wow, she's really pretty."

"I hadn't noticed." Rei said bitterly. Rei knew it was true. Kasumi was a gorgeous girl who most guys would only dream about.

Usagi grinned a little and elbowed Rei playfully, then asked, "Hm, a new girl is moving in on your boyfriend, huh? What are you going to do about it, Rei?"

"Will you shut up!" Rei exclaimed angrily right in Usagi's face. "If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times. Chad is not my boyfriend and there is absolutely nothing going on between the two of us. It's just…."

"Just what?" Mako asked.

"It's just that…well ever since that girl showed up, Chad hasn't seemed very happy for two people who are supposed to be such good friends. In fact, I think something is really bothering him." Rei explained, "Now let me listen."

Rei closed her eyes and focused on trying to overhear the conversation again. She could only hear Chad and the new girl, so she guessed that her grandfather had given them some privacy. She heard the girl talking, "There's absolutely nothing I can do about it, Yuuichirou. Your parents were very specific; they demand that you come back with me now. They tried to give you time do this whole 'finding yourself' thing and wanting to better yourself. But they've decided to no longer humor you anymore, Yuuichiro."

"I keep trying to tell you, I can't leave. I just can't. Rei and Sensei took me in and let me stay here. They're good people and I have to repay their kindness." Chad insisted.

"Your parents don't believe that there is anything at all for you to gain by working in this old shrine. They had enough of you avoiding your family obligations, your destiny. They're ready for you to step up and take your part in the family's business. Plus they, I, and everyone else are all missing you. They don't mean to be harsh, but they told me to let you know something very important. If you refuse to come back soon then they're going to disown you, their only son, forever." Kasumi told him gravely.

"An ultimatum huh? Sounds just like them." Chad commented. Rei felt her heart sink after hearing all of that. It sounded like Chad was in a really difficult predicament. His parents sounded just like her father.

Luna chirped in quickly before things went further to try to get the scouts back on track with their business. It seemed that over the past several nights, there were men being found around the city who seemed to have had all the energy drained out of them. Luna and Artemis were sure it was the work of a youma and the scouts needed to track it down before it attacked again.

Rei listened to everything that was said between the scouts but kept her focus on trying to listen in to Chad and his fiancé. It turned out that the girl had talked Chad in to going out to a fancy restaurant with her that night, to try to convince him to go back with her and leave the shrine. Rei's eyes narrowed when she heard this. She quickly made up her mind that she needed to go along as well and keep tabs on what was going on. There was only one problem; she had heard of the restaurant they had mentioned and Rei knew it was reserved for couples only. She wouldn't be able to get in by herself. But that was alright; Rei knew exactly what to do. "Usagi, get a dress from your house. We're going out tonight."

"Rei! We know you're feeling down right now but I don't think a drastic life change is really the best way to handle things." Minako said.

"That not it!" Rei said, rolling her eyes. "Tonight those two are going out to a restaurant and they only let people in pairs in. So I need a date."

"You could always ask Mamoru to go with you." Ami suggested.

"No! No deal! Not happening!" Usagi protested quickly.

"I'm actually with Usagi on that. I'd rather not have to try to explain being there with a guy, if I get caught." Rei told them.

"So you'd prefer to be caught with another girl?" Usagi asked.

"Look, if you go along then I'll pay for your meal, Usagi. So are you going to help me out or not?" Rei asked, starting to get a little desperate.

Usagi looked at Rei suspicious for a moment then asked, "I can get whatever I want, right?"

"…The way you eat? …It might take all my savings but, fine!" Rei replied.

"Hehe, you don't have to be rude." Usagi said with a small grin on her face. Usagi would be lying if she said she didn't find this whole thing a little amusing. She loved to tease Rei about her little crush on Chad, even if she'd never really admit to it. Actually, maybe it was because she'd never admit to it that it was so much fun.

Luna tried to protest and explain that they needed the two of them to help try to find the youma that had appeared but Rei wouldn't hear anything of it. Much to Luna's despair, the other scouts backed Rei on the decision. Artemis then reasoned with Luna that they still had three scouts, and that if they needed Rei and Usage, then they would know where to find them. Eventually Luna gave in and the scouts headed home about an hour later. Usagi stayed around at Rei's house; she planned to use her magic pen to create a dress.

The two girls had to wait for Chad to leave so that they could sneak out and follow along. While they waited, Rei walked through the hall once Chad's fiancé left. She noticed Chad standing in his room in front of a mirror, trying to get ready. He was wearing a beige shirt with a dark sports coat and matching pants. Rei laughed a little as she watched him continue to struggle with the tie around his neck. Of course his hair was still as disheveled as always, and he still had the stubble on his face. Chad heard her laugh and looked over to the door. He smiled a little and said, "Oh, hey Rei."

"Is that how you're going to go on your date? You look like such a mess." Rei told him, sticking her tongue out at him, playfully.

"Oh uhh, you heard about that huh? I'm just not very good at these sorts of things." He explained as she continued to try his best to tie the necktie, never even getting close.

"Here, let me help." Rei said and walked in to the room towards him. She made him face her as she reached up with both of her hands and began to fix his tie. In a few seconds the tie was done perfectly in a beautiful knot, and Rei was adjusting it around his collar. All the while, she couldn't help but wonder why she was helping to make him look better for going out on this date. She hadn't known that girl for very long, but Rei already didn't seem to like her. So why bother making Chad look better for her sake? No, it wasn't for her sake. She was doing it to help Chad.

"Whoa! You're really good at this." Chad complimented, very surprised that she knew how to do it.

"Well my father has to wear a lot of formal stuff like this….My mom used to have to help him sometimes too. So that's where I learned." Rei explained. She really didn't want to think about her parents at the moment though, so she changed the subject. "So you're telling me that you come from a rich family, and no one ever taught you this?" she teased.

"Heh, well they tried to. But like I said, I'm just not good at these sorts of things." Chad told her honestly.

"I see, well you need to get finished. At least shave and do something with your hair so that it's not in your eyes." Rei instructed as she finished setting his tie in to place. She then reached up and pushed his bangs out of his eyes. She couldn't help but blush a little and look away when she caught sight of his big brown eyes staring down at her. His eyes were always hidden away, but they were beautiful. "Your eyes are really pretty, you know…So, you should show them more often, and not hide them behind these bangs."

Chad blushed shyly and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh heh, you really think so?" He asked. Rei nodded and grabbed a small comb that was sitting on a nearby table, and then handed it to him. Chad nodded and started to comb out his hair a bit. There was a small silence between the two of them before he said, "By the way, I really wanted to apologize for Kasumi. They way that she just showed up out of nowhere and made a big commotion; that wasn't fair to you and your grandfather. I had no idea she was coming."

"Don't worry about it, really. Like you said, you couldn't have known." Rei replied then added, "So….are you excited? You're going out with a beautiful girl who is obviously crazy about you. Sounds like you two have a lot of catching up to do."

Chad remained silent his eyes looked away for a bit as he replied, "Uh, I'm not really sure. This was really out of the blue." He then finished combing his hair, and started to trim his facial hair with an electric razor. He looked at himself in the mirror and Rei noticed he had a strange look on his face. It was as if he didn't like what he saw.

"Is something wrong, Chad?" Rei asked, tilting her head a little to the side.

Chad brushed his finger over his face for a moment, the lack of stubble feeling foreign to him. He looked over to Rei. Wanting her opinion, he asked, "Well you tell me? It feels really weird, but do I look alright?"

Rei looked him up and down for a moment then smiled. "Yeah, pretty as a picture." Rei told him. She was amazed by how different he looked than usual. He looked so strong and his long hair made him look wild. Yet he also looked gentle and noble at the same time.

"Oh really? Heh, thanks a lot for your help, Rei. I must look pretty good if you think so." Chad said, thanking her. "Oh yeah, you wanted to talk about something earlier, right? So what's up?"

Rei suddenly remembered the way she had acted earlier that morning and started to feel guilty again. She looked down at her feet for a moment, then back at him and said, "Oh yeah, about that. I just wanted to apologize for the way I snapped at you this morning. You were just trying to help me after I had been forgetful. It was nice, and I didn't even thank you. So thank you, Chad. And I'm sorry."

Chad just smiled a little and said, "Oh that? It's not a big deal, so don't worry about it. Well, I think it's time for me to get going."

Rei watched Chad head for the door and nodded, watching him leave. As he reached the doorway, Rei called out, "Have a good time, okay?"

Chad looked back at her and smiled a little then replied, "That'll be pretty hard, but I'll try my best. Since you asked me to."

* * *

Alright, that's a good place to stop for now. This chapter went longer than I meant for it to. I thought of having Usagi watch the whole last part and comically crying big faucets of tears but it would have killed the mood. Anyways it's the last day of spring break so I don't know when I'll be able to update. Thank you very much for reading, and leave a comment or review if you want. ^.^ I'll be back...eventually.


	3. Chapter 3

"Usagi, will you hurry up?!" Rei asked in a frustrated tone as the two girls walked along the side of the street, in front of a very fancy restaurant. It was the sort of place with high ceilings, had a strict dress code for the customers, and all of the employees dressed in tuxedos. Rei was dressed in a simple red dress that went down to a little above her knees, with matching heels and white gloves.

"I'm trying, but it's hard to walk in these heels!" Usagi complained as she fumbled along behind Rei. She had used her magic pen to transform her clothes in to an over the top, fluffy, pink evening dress. It was hardly inconspicuous, which didn't help Rei's cause at all.

Rei kept an eye out in front of them; Chad and his fiancé were walking together ahead of them and hadn't noticed the girls following them. Rei then cringed when she heard Usagi cry out distress as she tripped over her own dress and fell on to the ground below. Rei's head quickly whipped around and, thinking fast, she grabbed Usagi by the hand. She then pulled the two of them behind a row of bushes that ran along the outside of the building. Rei peeked out and saw that a few people had turned around but it seemed that they hadn't been spotted by Chad. Rei looked over at Usagi angrily and said, "You really are a dumpling head! Are those buns on your head tied so tight that they're constricting blood flow to your brain?"

Usagi puffed her face up a little and said, "Hey! Only Mamoru can call me that! And I'm trying to help you."

"Okay fine, just try to not be such a klutz for once!" Rei replied. The two girls then walked in to restaurant a few moments after Chad and his date did. There was a man in front of a handmade wooden podium who was looking over the guest list, but looked up when he saw the two young women walk in together in front of him.

The host cleared his throat a little and said, "Excuse me ladies, but I'm afraid there has been some mix up here. Our restaurant only serves couples."

"Oh but….we….are a couple." Rei said with a small smile and grabbed Usagi's hand. Rei saw that Usagi had a strange look on her face. So she stepped on her foot under her dress and muttered under breath. "Play along or you don't get to eat."

Usagi instantly perked up and nodded enthusiastically. Usagi added in, "Yes that right. This is my…girlfriend…She's hot right?"

'Yeah Usagi, that was real believable.' Rei thought to herself then looked up at the host. She could tell by the look of his face that he wasn't going to let them in, so she decided to go with her backup plan. She let out a fake sigh and said, "Oh well, that's too bad. It's such a shame when a member of the Hino family is turned away from such a nice restaurant. My father was so looking forward to coming here soon."

One of the waiters who had been walking by at the time had picked up on what Rei said. He quickly walked over to the host and started to whisper something to him. The look on the hosts face quickly changed. He looked over to Rei and asked, "Oh my! You wouldn't happen to be related to Takashi Hino, Ms.?"

"Yes that's correct, he is my father." Rei told him. She knew how high class places like this worked. All she had to do was drop her father's name, and she could get what she wanted. It wasn't something that Rei enjoyed, since it felt like she was letting her father help her. But this was a special occasion. Rei smiled a little to herself and decided to add, "Oh well, I think I saw another place to eat along the way. Let's go Usagi." The girls then turned back towards the doors.

"Ladies! Ladies, please wait just a moment. I do believe that one of our very best tables just opened up. It would be an honor for us to have two young ladies as beautiful as you dine with us tonight."

With their backs turned to the host, Rei looked over at Usagi and winked a little. Usagi covered her mouth and started to snicker a bit. Rei turned back and said, "Well, if you insist."

The host eagerly led the girls up to the second floor, where the dining hall was; to a table in the center of the room. Rei looked around and pointed out to a table near the side of the room and said, "Excuse me, I think the two of us would prefer that table."

The host didn't protest but nearly nodded and said, "Yes of course." He then walked the two girls to their table and handed them their menus. The reason Rei had asked for that particular table was because she was worried that Chad and his date would see them if they were sitting in the middle of the room. From where Rei was now sitting, she could see Chad and his fiancé but they were far enough that she didn't think they'd be noticed. Especially since Chad's back was to them. Rei also kept her menu held up close to hide her face.

Rei leaned her head against her hands and gazed over at the couple. They were sitting across from each other and Kasumi was leaning in over the table closely. They looked like they were in the middle of a pretty important conversation. "I wish I knew what they were talking about. What do you think, Usagi?...Usagi?"

"Mpfhmmm…mafbye..uff.." Usagi said with a piece of bread she had gotten from a basket on the table, and stuffed in her mouth.

"…..Nevermind." Rei said, her face clearly showing her annoyance.

Usagi slowly swallowed the food in her mouth, and then cleared her throat. Usagi smiled softly and said, "Don't worry so much. I'm sure that right now he's telling her that it would never work out between them, and that she should move on."

"You really think so?" Rei asked, a small look of hope in her eyes.

"Of course! Why would he ever want to get married to her, when he can live at your shrine with you, and be your grandpa's apprentice? If he marries her then he'd have to probably live in a big mansion with…lots of money..and…all of his family around. He'd never choose that over you and your grandpa!" Usagi said. She was trying to make Rei feel better, but she was failing miserably. Usagi saw Rei's downturned face and quickly tried to remedy the situation. "I mean...what I'm trying to say is that Chad is crazy about you, and you know it."

Rei smiled happily but then blushed a bit and looked away and replied, "Yeah well…it's not like I really care! It's his life, so he should do whatever he wants to do. I just want to make sure that he isn't forced in to something."

"Yeah, sure." Usagi said with an amused grin on her face. Rei could be so transparent sometimes. She looked over her shoulder at the couple they were spying on, and then added, "In that case, I'm sure you don't care where her foot just went."

"Huh?" Rei said then peeked out from behind her menu and looked closely below their table. Her eyes then widened and exclaimed loudly, "That slut!"

Everyone that had heard quickly looked up and Rei ducked her head down behind her menu. Usagi snickered a little and looked over at the couple once again. When Rei peeked back out, she saw Kasumi walking away from the table and towards the other side of the restaurant, towards the bathrooms. Rei then looked back towards Chad; he didn't look like he was having a very good time to her. Chad sat there at the table by himself, bored out of his mind. He fiddled with his fork a little bit before he dropped it under the table. He then crawled under the table to search for it.

"Umm Rei, is this normal for this place?" Usagi asked as she looked up in the air.

Rei looked up to see what Usagi was talking about. Her eyes widened when she saw the room was being filled with a strange glowing blue pollen like substance. The two scouts began to cough as the pollen filled their lungs. Meanwhile everyone else around them was beginning to faint at their tables. Rei covered her mouth and said, "What the heck is going on. Could this be a….a…"

Rei was caught off guard when a mind splitting screech echoed throughout the restaurant. Rei and Usagi looked up to see a large youma crash in through the skylight above their heads. It had a female appearance with pale green skin and butterfly looking wings. It must have been the one Luna had told them about that day. The female youma floated down to one of the unconscious men, and reached out with its clawed hands to absorb his life force. Rei looked over to Usagi and said, "C'mon! We have to transform."

Chad had crawled underneath the table to look for the fork he had dropped. While under the table he heard some sort of weird animalistic screech. He instinctively shot up and hit his head hard on the bottom of the table. He winced a little and felt like a complete idiot. What he didn't know, was that being under the cover of the table had sheltered him against the knockout pollen. He slowly peeked out from under the table, and looked around. His eyes became wide at what he saw. There was a giant, freaky looking monster! But that wasn't what caught his attention. He didn't know why, but Rei was there with her friend, Usagi. The two of them called out some sort of…incantation; and then the two girls were then enveloped in pink and red auras. When the lightshow faded, Chad saw the two girls as sailor scouts.

Ever since Chad had come to live at the shrine, he had noticed Rei would often be coming and going at strange times of the night. He had always wondered what she had been up to. He had never expected something like this, but now it all made sense. He always knew Rei was an amazing girl, but this took the cake. Chad then watched as the monster began to attack the two girls; he immediately felt worried for Rei and her safety.

The female youma saw the two sailor scouts and let out another howling screech. It took the scouts off guard and made them instinctively cover their ears; meanwhile, all around them, all of the wine glasses were shattering in to pieces on account of the high pitch. When Usagi and Rei came back to their senses, they saw the youma starting to swipe at them with its claws. The girls quickly dodged the attacks. The two scouts then split up, so the youma started to chase after Usagi. Rei was able to get some distance and then put her hands together and fired one of her flame attacks at the youma. The youma looked up at the last second though and flew up in to the air, dodging the flames.

The youma then quickly went down close to the ground, picked up one of the heavy tables over its head, and threw it right at Rei with great force. Rei's eyes widened and she braced herself for the impact. But at the last second, Rei felt herself pushed to the ground, and heard the crash of the table hitting one of the walls. Rei opened her eyes and was surprised to see Chad on top of her; he had pushed her out of the way. She blushed a little noticing they were in the same position they had been that morning.

"Rei….are you alright?" Chad asked; his eyes full of concern as they looked down at her.

"R-Rei!? I'm Sailor Mars! You have me mistaken with someone else." Rei lied, even though she knew he'd never buy that. Rei had never thought Chad would find out her secret, so she was unprepared.

Chad smiled a bit and said, "C'mon, even I'm not that dumb. But I'll take that as you're okay." Rei simply smiled and nodded. All the while, Usagi was crying out in distress as the youma chased her through the air, back and forth through the restaurant.

Rei heard Usagi's outcry and quickly pushed Chad away from her so that she could stand up. She looked at Chad and said, "Thank you, but please hide now. It's not safe!"

Rei then regrouped with Usagi and they attacked the youma together. Eventually they were able to land a powerful attack on the youma; making it fall to the floor below. The youma slowly stood up and looked around. It saw a large pair of elegant glass doors that led outside to a balcony. It saw its chance for escape and quickly dashed towards the exit and jumped through the doors, making the glass shatter.

"You're not getting away!" Rei declared and ran after the youma, eventually cutting it off on the balcony. Rei was facing straight ahead at the youma with her back to the balcony. Usagi came up behind the youma, and the girls were sure that they had it pinned. Rei was about to attack once again, but the youma opened its mouth and let out yet another screech. This time it was completely focused at Rei. The dark haired scout cried out and covered her ears. Her ears were ringing and she was having difficulty keeping her balanced. She started to back away, slowly towards the balcony. The youma saw its opening and quickly flew off. As it passed by Rei though it kicked the scout with its leg, making Rei fall backwards and over the ledge of the balcony. Rei fell backwards, going head first over the edge.

Chad had seen the whole thing, and had jumped after Rei once she went over the edge. Rei looked up to see Chad hanging over the edge with her. He was holding on to her by her ankle with one hand, and on to the ledge of the balcony with his other. "Don't worry, I won't let go. I promise." Chad told her as he struggled to keep his strength.

"Chad! Are you stupid? What are you thinking?! I told you to hide." Rei scolded. She then realized that she was upside down with her red skirt flipped up. She also saw Chad looking down at her, and he was blushing a little. She blushed and reached up, trying to push her skirt down…or up. "Hey! Don't look down at me, you pervert!"

"You know Rei, I'm really glad you see the gravity of this situation. And I wasn't looking there, promise." Chad said. Well, maybe he had peeked just a little bit. Chad tried to pull the two of them up as Usagi ran up and grabbed on to Chad's hand with both of her hands. She tried to help them up, but didn't have the strength. Chad looked back down at Rei and said, "Get ready." He then started to try to swing her up towards the balcony. Rei moved along with the momentum, and when she was close enough she grabbed the edge of the balcony. Just as Rei had gotten her grip, Chad's grip gave way and he fell towards the bushes down below. Along the way down, his hand that had held her ankle knocked her red heel off.

Usagi grabbed on to Rei's hands and helped pull her up as they both heard Chad hit the ground with a loud thud. Rei quickly looked over the edge and called out. "Chad!"

"Don't worry, I'm cool. But uhh…I think whoever trims these hedges is gonna be really mad tomorrow." Chad called out to them. Rei smiled a bit; if he was able to crack stupid jokes, then he wasn't hurt too badly. Rei and Usagi then ran downstairs and outside to check on him. Chad slowly crawled out of the bushes as the two scouts reached him. His hair was once again a mess and covered his face. He looked up at Rei and asked, "So uhh, I know in the story it was a glass slipper. But would you settle for a red heel?"

Rei watched as Chad pulled out her heel that had fallen off, and then slipped it back on to her foot. Rei smiled and laughed a bit. "Dummy." Rei said and stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

* * *

Thank you for the continued support everyone, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. It was pretty lighthearted compared to the first two chapters. Anyways I have to go to bed, early class tomorrow. I will try to update as soon as possible. Maybe sometime this weekend. Next chapter is going to have more ReixChad moments and Rei might even get some alone time with the new girl. Until next time. ^.^


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for the continued support everybody. ^.^ And to those asking about the fiance and the youma. Eh, I can't tell you guys everything at once. Then it wouldn't be interesting.

* * *

Rei sat alone outside that night, on the steps of her family's shrine. It was a nice night, not too hot or too cold. The skies above the dark-haired beauty's head were clear, and there was a big silver full moon out. After the youma had escaped at the restaurant, Usagi and Rei had left as everyone started to wake up. They tried to chase after it, but unfortunately they weren't able to find it again. Rei didn't have time to worry about that though; her mind was elsewhere. Her thoughts drifted between the fact that Chad had found out her secret, and that it seemed like Chad might be leaving soon. For some reason, the possibility of him leaving seemed unreal. She had a hard time believing it would happen. Then she wondered what he thought of her, now that he knew she was a sailor scout.

"Uhh, hey Rei. Could you use some company?" Chad asked as he walked up behind her.

Rei turned her head to see him there, "Sure, why not." She then patted the place next to her for him to sit down.

"Thanks." Chad said and sat next to her.

"So how's your fiancé?" Rei asked. Apparently Chad had found Kasumi unconscious outside the women's room at the restaurant. She had been put to sleep like everyone else. All the excitement had been pretty wild for the girl.

"She's fine. She's asleep now. Umm, I hope its okay that I put her in your room." Chad explained. The effects of the sleeping pollen had made her feel weary so she wanted to rest. Rei's grandfather was all too eager to let her stay there for the night.

Rei cringed a little at the idea of having to share her room with the older girl, who she didn't even know. "Yeah…that's okay. I guess…But, wouldn't she be happier staying in your room? After all, you two are supposed to get married, right?" Rei blushed a bit and added, "It shouldn't be a big deal for you two to….sleep together."

"There's no ring on her finger, yet. Your grandfather said he didn't want anything 'immoral' happening in his shrine. Although he was eager to let her stay in his room…." Chad said then loosened the tie around his neck. He sighed and added, "What a night, huh? If it's that exciting to be shadowed by you, then I can only imagine what an exciting date you are, Rei. "

"I…I wasn't shadowing you. Usagi and I were just around the area and we saw the youma." Rei lied.

Chad smiled a bit and replied, "Okay."

Rei's eyebrows furrowed a bit and she said, "Okay? What do you mean okay?" Was he humoring her? For some reason, that really bugged her.

"I mean okay. I know you wouldn't bother to lie about something like that." Chad said as he smiled under his brown bangs.

Rei frowned a bit and asked, "What makes you so sure?"

"Because you're always really honest with everyone, Rei. You never hold back." Chad explained. Rei was starting to feel like he was messing with her, which only made it worse. Chad decided to change the subject and asked, "So, you and your friends save the world a lot huh? What made you guys decide to do all of that stuff?"

"It wasn't really a decision we made. It's kind of…our destinies, or something like that. It's a really long story. To be honest, I think if I tried to explain it all, I would just sound crazy." Rei told him. She then looked at Chad seriously and pointed her finger in to his face, the tip of her finger pressing in to his nose. "I'm only going to warn you once! You can't ever tell anyone what you saw. Never ever!"

"I-I know! Don't worry! Your secret is safe with me!" Chad said frantically. Rei smiled a little to herself at his reaction. That was the Chad she had come to know.

"Good!" Rei said, smiling brightly. There was then a brief silence between the two of them. Rei tapped the tip of her heel against the stone steps a few times before she asked, "So…umm, what did you two talk about tonight?"

Chad leaned back and propped himself up on his arms, braced behind him. "Well, Kasumi and I haven't seen each other in a long while, so we had a lot of catching up to do. It looks like my parents and everyone else are pretty intent on me heading back home. They're ready for the two of us to get married. Apparently my parents told her that if I don't do as they say, then I will be completely disowned and cut off by them, my friends, and everyone I know. Heh, they've really got me by the….uhh, they're serious." Chad explained to her.

Rei listened to him speak, and all the while could hear the sadness in Chad's voice. Especially when he talked about being cut off from his family. It was then that Rei realized how very little she really knew Chad. Rei didn't want to admit it, but she didn't want him to leave. She had become accustomed to him being around; plus she found it kind of fun to boss around an older guy so much. But now she felt guilty about it. She was being selfish and not thinking of what was best for him. She looked up at him and asked, "So…do you love her? You don't sound very enthusiastic."

Chad thought for a moment and then nodded, "Yeah, I do."

"You do!?" Rei exclaimed in shock, her eyes wide. She then looked away a bit and brought her voice down. "I mean..uhh, you do? Well then what's the problem? Aren't you happy about all of this then?"

"Kasumi is my oldest friend, so of course I love her. As a friend, though. I'm not in love with her. Not in the way two people getting married should be." Chad explained.

Rei wasn't sure why, but hearing him say that made her feel happy. "I see, then why don't you explain that to your parents? I'm sure they would understand."

Chad snickered a bit and tried not to laugh, "Rei, you don't know my parents. They don't care. To them, this whole arranged marriage thing has more to do with business than anything else."

He was right, Rei didn't know his parents. She thought again that she didn't know much about him at all; at least before he came to her grandfather's shrine that is. "Speaking of which, that girl said that you come from a really wealthy family right?" Rei asked.

Chad nodded and replied, "Yeah, that's right."

"So then…why would you ever want to live here? If you come from a family like that, then why would you ever bother working as an apprentice at some shrine? Why leave?" Rei asked curiously.

Chad sighed and rubbed the back of his head a bit, "Do you really want to know? It's kind of a long story. And not an interesting long story either."

Rei pulled her knees up to her chest, then leaned her arms and head over her knees and said with a small smile, "I'm not going anywhere, and I have time."

Chad nodded and then looked up at the sky for a few moments. As he did so, Rei was able to see his eyes peeking out from under his bangs, which made her smile. "Let's see…where to begin…I guess you could say it all started back when I was really little. My family has been a part of high society for generations. We own businesses and things like that. My family goes to high-class parties and social events where they socialize with other well off families and groups. Business owners, politicians, government leaders, and all those sorts. That's the kind of world I was born in to as a kid. Ever since I was a kid, I was sent to private schools and taught to be a certain way. There have always been expectations about who I should be, a role that I needed to play. But for as long as I can remember, I've always felt really out of place in that world. Like…I was switched at birth or something. I never felt like I belonged there, like I didn't fit in. Money, success, status, family lineage. Those always seemed to be what everyone valued most, what was important, and I didn't understand it at all. Even though I was meant to."

Rei stared at Chad as he spoke, and her eyes sparkled a little. This was a side of him that she had never seen before. His voice was so serious, and laced with emotion under the surface. He was opening up to her in a way she never before could have ever imagined. She also never would have imagined that Chad's life had been anything like he was describing. In a way she felt closer to him, connected. They had lived under the same roof for quite a while, but only now was she starting to understand him. She also could sympathize with where he was coming from. Since Rei's father was a politician, so she had also been brought up in a somewhat similar fashion as he had been. She also understood his outlook on that sort of world. Rei had seen just how cold people like that could be, namely her father. Before she died, her mother had been sick and in the hospital for a very long time. But her father, the man who supposedly loved her, was never there for her. He let his own wife die alone. Rei hated him for that, and she had never forgiven him. It showed her just how important the two of them really were to him. Rei looked down to the ground and shook her head a bit. She didn't want to think about that anymore. She shifted a little closer to Chad, who looked down at her in surprise. "Sorry, I just felt a chill. That's all." Rei told him then asked, "So…you didn't fit in? Did you not have a lot of friends?"

Chad shook his head and said, "On the contrary, I had a whole lot of friends. When I was a kid, it seemed like everyone liked me, and wanted to be my friend. I always had friends to hang out with. It wasn't until I was older that I started to question if they liked me for me, or if they just liked me because of the family I was from. It turns out that in some cases, I was right. But then there were those that really liked me for me, and they've been my friends ever since. But even though they're my friends, I still feel distant from them a lot of times on account of their interests and outlooks on things being so different from mine."

"So where does that girl….I mean….Kasumi fit in to all of that?" Rei asked curiously.

"Back when we were both little kids, our parents decided to have the two of us get married as a way of uniting the two families. It was basically a business and political decision. I was just a kid at the time, so I really never did comprehend all of that stuff. From that point on though, Kasumi stuck to me like glue. After a while, we became best friends even though we don't tend to have that much in common. Like our parents, Kasumi absolutely loves the idea of us getting hitched. But as we got older, I started to kind of worry about it. I felt as out of place as always, and I was worried that once I was married that there wouldn't be anything I could do about it. That's why, about a year or so ago, I asked for the chance to go off and just sorta…do my own thing. I wanted to get away from that kind of life and see what else was out there. I wanted to find out who I really was, and where I really belonged. I wasn't sure, maybe I had always been wrong, and that was where I was meant to be. That the grass was always greener on the other side, or something like that. But that would have meant putting off the wedding and me not stepping in at my family's company. Neither of our families were too big on that idea, but fortunately for me, Kasumi was preparing to go study abroad in Europe for a year. They decided to give me one year, which was when she'd come back. One year, and one year only." Chad then paused and looked down a little, "Now it looks like my time is up. It's funny, it's been a whole year but it doesn't feel like anything more than a few days."

"So after this year, what did you find out?" Rei asked curiously. She wanted to know what he was thinking about now.

"Well…along the way I met lots of new people. People who I really clicked with, and then others that downright frightened me." Chad told her but then paused for a few moments. He blushed a bit and added, "I also met someone who never ceases to amaze me, and keeps me in awe. To be honest, I found that I have never felt more in place, more right, than the time I've spent right here. With you and your grandfather."

Rei blushed a bit at what he said. She was sure he had been talking about her. And on some level, she hoped he was talking about her. She simply smiled a bit and said, "Thank you."

Chad smiled back and nodded. He then sighed a bit and said, "I don't know. I don't know what to do. What do you think, Rei? Any advice?"

When Chad asked that, Rei started to feel her heartbeat skyrocket. Ever since this whole thing began, Rei felt powerless to do anything about it. But now this was her chance. She knew what she wanted to say. She wanted to tell him that he should stay there and finish his commitment to her grandfather. Stay there with them, with her. Tell him that he should never marry someone just because it's arranged. That's what she wanted to say. Rei looked up at him at reached up, pushing his bangs out of his eyes so that she could look him in the eye and speak. She stared in to those big brown eyes and said, "I think…you should follow what your heart tells you. You should do whatever you feel will make you happiest."

Chad blushed a bit when he felt Rei's soft hands touch his face. The way she looked up at him and the tenderness in her words moved him. This was a part of Rei that he rarely saw, but he knew it was there. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks Rei." Chad said. The two of them stared at each other for a moment before Chad started to feel embarrassed and quickly rose to his feet. "A-anyways! I think I'm going to call it a night. I'm sure your grandfather will have me get up really early to do stuff. Good night Rei."

Rei watched him quickly run off and whispered out, "Good night." She then yawned and was starting to feel a little tired herself. She decided to turn in for the night as well. At least there was no school the next day, on account of the weekend. What Rei and Chad didn't know was that they were being watched while they were talking by someone in the shrine. Rei headed to the bathroom and washed up a bit before heading to her room. As she entered her room, she noticed the futon on the floor next to her bed and rolled her eyes a little. She still didn't like the idea of this older girl staying in her room. She looked around though and noticed that Kasumi was nowhere to be seen. Rei simply shrugged it off though; she didn't really care where she was. Rei went to her closet and slipped her red dress off her shoulders and put it back on the hanger out of sight. She didn't want to answer any possible questions as to where she had been that night, which would require her to wear the dress. Rei then slipped in to a loose tank top and shorts to sleep in.

Kasumi walked in just as Rei was slipping under the sheets of her bed. She was holding a cup of water and was wearing some of Rei's pajamas. The older girl smiled brightly and said, "Oh, hello there. It's Rei, right? I hope you don't mind me staying in your room for the night. I hope I'm not being a burden."

"No, it's alright. I don't mind." Rei lied.

"Thank you, I'm also afraid that I had to borrow some of your clothes to sleep in. Is that okay?" Kasumi asked as she slipped in to the futon.

"No problem." Rei said then muttered under her breath. "They look better on you anyways." referring to how she noticed the older girl filled out her clothes more. Rei turned away towards the wall by her bed and bit on her blanket in frustration. Why did she have to be so damn pretty?

"I know I must sound like a broken record, but I wanted to thank you again, for putting up with my dear Yuuichirou. I know he can be a lot to handle at times; and I'm so glad he had such a cute girl to look after him. Otherwise he can let himself become a real mess, without a woman's touch."

Rei lowered her head a bit, her dark hair covering her eyes a little. "It's Chad." She muttered out.

"Hm? I'm sorry sweetie, I'm afraid I didn't catch that." Kasumi said, leaning in closer.

Rei turned her head to look at the other girl. There was a mixture of sadness and anger in her eyes. "He doesn't like to be called Yuuichirou. That's why everyone calls him Chad. It's what he prefers to go by. I would think his 'wife' should know that." Rei remarked, somewhat cynically.

Kasumi smirked a little and shook her head a bit, "Chad…such a dreadful name. Besides, it's not his true name. He will always be my Yuuichirou." Kasumi explained and looked up at Rei and asked, "You like him, don't you?"

"W-what! No way! Not everyone is obsessed with the guy as you are." Rei told her, resorting to her natural defenses much like how she'd do with Usagi.

Kasumi giggled a little and said, "Oh come now, Sweetie. It's just between us girls. And besides, I can tell you have a little crush on him. Who wouldn't? I know you must not like me very much, since he'll be leaving with me soon."

"…..What about it?" Rei admitted, looking away a bit.

Kasumi stood up and sat next to Rei on her bed, putting a hand on her shoulder she asked, "Rei, what grade are you in, by chance?"

Rei pulled back a little from the other girl's touch and raised an eyebrow at the question, unsure of where she was going, but she played along. "I'm in middle school. Why?"

"Well you know, Yuuichirou is already over eighteen, and you're only in middle school. You're a very pretty young girl, but you need to realize that he is a man. He should be with a woman. You can't possibly believe there could ever be anything between the two of you. What would you two ever have in common? You're like his dear sweet little sister. But don't you worry! You're a beautiful girl, and I am sure there are tons of boys your age that would love to be with you." Kasumi said in a sweet and loving tone, trying to make Rei understand the situation and comfort her.

Rei didn't show it, but the older girl's words were like knives going through her chest. She gripped her bed sheets in her fists a bit. Despite the sweet and tender voice behind the girl's words, they killed Rei a little on the inside. She wasn't sure if she was being sincere or just trying to get under Rei's skin. If it was the latter, then it was working too well. It was rare that another girl ever made Rei feel like this, and she wasn't sure why that was. Perhaps it was because, on some level, Kasumi was expertly attacking insecurities Rei already held. Rei wanted to snap and tell the girl off, but for some reason she held back. She wanted to tell Kasumi how wrong she was. That the only girl Chad wanted to be with was her. What did he and Rei have in common? A hell of a lot more than he did with Kasumi. That's what Rei wanted to say; yet for the second time that night, the fiery girl bit her tongue. She didn't want to make trouble for Chad. Rei turned away and laid down in her bed with her back to Kasumi and said, "I'm really tired, so can we just go to sleep?" Rei asked, and then turned her lamp off without bothering to wait for an answer.

She felt Kasumi silently move away off of her bed, and heard the rustling of sheets. How was it that Rei had gone from feeling so happy after talking with Chad to so down after talking with this girl? Rei then decided to think about other things, like the youma from that night. Why did it only attack men? Was it just picky about what kind of energy it liked? And what a weird coincidence that it had shown up at the same place they had been. In the darkness of the room, Rei's eyes widened as a thought came to her. She remembered something. The youma had shown up as soon as Kasumi had walked out of the room. Had that been a coincidence too? Rei slowly looked over her shoulder and down at the futon by her bed. Could it be? Could it be that the youma was….this girl?

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Whew! This chapter went WAY longer than I thought it was going to. Lots of Rei and Chad goodness. The next chapter might take me some time since I'm not 100% sure where I want to take things now. I can either make this a relatively short story with a conclusion coming in the next 2-3 chapters give or take, OR I can extend it further on. As always folks, thank you very much for reading and I'll be writing more as soon as possible.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait. School got in the way big time with lots of papers, essays, etc. all coming due at once. Lots of pressure and little time for writing anything else. But just this week I was able to get a little relief and I've put that time to good use. I was kind of unsure of where to go with this chapter but tonight everything just came together. I thank you all for your patience and hope you really enjoy this one.

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The next morning Rei woke up to find that Kasumi was still in her room, which bothered her quite a bit since she needed to get dressed for school. So she kindly asked the older girl to exit her room. Once she was alone, Rei started to get dressed. All the while, her mind focused on what she had thought the night before after her conversation with the other girl. Could she be the youma that was attacking men? Maybe she was. Maybe she was after Chad and was just imitating a childhood friend of his. If that was the case, then Rei had to find out for sure and get rid of her for good. Then things would all go back to normal. Once Rei had finished putting on her school uniform, she went over to her desk and opened one of the drawers, taking out one of her paper charms and hiding it away in her school vest. She'd use it on Kasumi as soon as she got the chance, which would reveal her for what she truly was. Luckily, Rei didn't have to wait long.

Rei walked in to the bathroom to find Kasumi dolling herself up for the day so that she could leave. The older girl looked over at Rei and smiled brightly at her. "Oh hello there Rei sweetie, you look so cute in your little school girl uniform!" Kasumi complimented, "I hope what I said didn't bother you last night. I know these adult matters might be a little over your head, but I promise when you're older that you will see this is all best for everyone."

Rei ignored what the girl said and slipped the paper charm in to her hand and hid it behind her back as she quietly muttered out the incantation. She had made sure that her grandfather and Chad were busy in the kitchen. Then, just as Kasumi turned to look at her, Rei pulled out the charm and forced it on to the girl's face hard with her fingers. Kasumi shrieked out in shock and distress when this happened. Rei smiled at the reaction, seeing that she was right. But her smile soon faded when she noticed that the girl hadn't changed in to the youma yet. Rei bit her bottom lip a bit. She wasn't a youma, Rei was wrong. But…that meant….that meant….that Chad's current dilemma was real.

Kasumi quickly reached up and grabbed the paper charm, tearing it off her face as she looked at Rei enraged. "Why you little…you little….you nearly poked my eye out you little bitch!" Kasumi yelled out and quickly raised her hand up in to the air and brought it down.

Rei cringed and tensed up a bit, knowing she was about to be struck. But nothing happened; she opened her eyes and looked up to see that someone had grabbed Kasumi by the wrist. Chad was standing there with an extremely displeased look on his face. He had heard the commotion from the other room. He looked at Kasumi through his brown hair and exclaimed, "Kasumi! What's the matter with you? What were you thinking, trying to hit Rei? She's only in middle school, and you're an adult! And besides all of that, she is your host. She opened up her home to you, and this is how you thank her?"

Kasumi's eyes widened in shock that she had been found out. She slowly pulled her wrist out of Chad's powerful grip and said frantically. "No…you have it all wrong Yuuichirou, Darling! She attacked me!" Kasumi protested.

Chad shook his head, not wanting to hear of it. "I don't know what I walked in on, but I think it would be best if you leave now. You're here because of me, so if you cause problems then it's my responsibility."

Kasumi was about to protest but stopped, realizing the situation she was in. She let out a 'hmph' and walked past Rei to gather her things to leave. She paused and looked over her shoulder at Chad and said in an almost cold voice, "Remember what we talked about, Yuuichirou. You must return home today!"

Chad watched his childhood friend leave then looked over at Rei and rubbed the back of his head a bit, he then said, "Rei…I'm….I'm so sorry about that…uhh…."

Rei looked up at him with a sour look on her face and said, "I don't need you to look after me! I'm not a child, and I can take care of myself." Rei then paused and looked away for a moment. It was obvious that her conversation with Kasumi the night before had an effect on her. She looked back to Chad and added, "You should take your fiancé's advice, you know. You should go with her and leave here for good. This isn't your home. You have no authority to be inviting or kicking anyone out."

Chad blinked a little in surprise by what Rei was saying, "But Rei…I uhh…."

Rei looked up at him with fiery angry eyes and exclaimed, "No buts! Be a real man and quit stuttering for once! Don't you get it, you idiot! Nobody wants you here, especially me! Ever since you begged your way in here, my grandfather has been doing everything he could to drive you out of our shrine. This is _our_ home Chad, not yours! You don't belong here, you've never belonged her, and you never will!"

Chad then watched dumbfounded as Rei rushed down the hall and out of the house, heading for her school without another word. A few hours later, Chad was sitting on his legs in the heart of the Hikawa shrine in front of his sensei, Rei's grandfather. The small elderly man rubbed his chin a little as he looked at his apprentice. And then, after a silence, he asked, "I see, then that is your final decision?"

"Yes Sensei, thank you so much for all you have done. Please forgive me for any trouble I've caused you during my stay." Chad said and bowed deeply before the elderly man.

"Very well, then from this moment on you are no longer my apprentice. You know Chad…I know why you really came her. I know how you feel about my Rei." Grandpa said. Chad blushed a bit and looked up embarrassed. Grandpa then continued, "Do you remember all of those times that I told you that you're not good enough for her?"

"Uhh, yes Sensei….I mean Sir. I do." Chad said, nodding. How could he forget, the old monk had pounded it in to his head every single day.

"Well I just want you to know Chad….that I meant every word of it!" Grandpa said, but then had paused and added. "But would you like to know something? A long time ago, I was sitting in the exact place you were right now, in front of my father-in-law. He told me the exact same thing, he meant it, and he was right. I wasn't good enough for my wife, I never was."

Chad looked up in surprise and asked, "Sensei…why are you telling me this?"

"Hold on, I'm not done. You see, I wasn't good enough for my wife. But I tell you, I dedicated every single day that we were together to trying to make her happy. She gave me so many wonderful things, like our beautiful daughter. I wanted more than anything to make her happy, and I like to think I succeeded. That she passed away happy. I wasn't good enough for my wife, and that horrible excuse for a son-in-law was certainly never good enough for my daughter." Grandpa then paused for a moment before he continued, "What I'm trying to say Chad, is that as men we rarely ever deserve the amazing women that come in to our lives. But the good guys, like you, try their best. And that is admirable. I heard what Rei said to you this morning, and I apologize for her. But what she said was partly true. As I'm sure you know, I have been trying to work you so hard that you would want to leave. But you never did. And because of that, you have proven yourself to be the worthiest apprentice I have ever had the honor of training. I just want you to know, that no matter what happens, you are always welcome here. And you will always have a home at this shrine."

Chad couldn't help but feel warmed by the elderly man's uncharacteristically kind words. He bowed before him gratefully and said, "Thank you, Sensei."

Later on that day after school, Rei and Usagi walked along the sidewalk together as they headed towards Rei's home. Rei carried with her a bag with some new manga books that Usagi wanted to read, which was why she was tagging along. Usagi followed close behind with a big smile on her face, she was carrying a bag of sweets for them to eat while they read Rei's new comics. Usagi grinned mischievously at Rei as they walked up the stone steps towards the shrine and asked, "So…what happened between you and Chad last night when I left? Did you finally tell him how much you looovveee him?"

"Oh please! As if something that crazy would ever happen. Anyways, the last thing I want to talk about is him!" Rei said frustratingly as the two girls walked in to her house and slipped off their shoes.

"Ooohhh, I lover's spat huh? Well I'm sure you two will settle things. C'mon let's go see him!" Usagi said cheerfully and before Rei could protest, Usagi grabbed Rei by the arm and led her down the hall towards Chad's room. She opened the door but then stopped when the two of them noticed that the room was now strangely barren. There was nothing inside but the few pieces of furniture, and his futon which was put away perfectly. On top of the futon was his shrine apprentice uniform folded up. "He…he actually left? There's no way!" Usagi said in shock.

"Hmph, good riddance. The jerk couldn't have even been bothered enough to say goodbye in person. I'm glad he's gone." Rei said firmly. She found it insulting that he would just leave without telling them.

Usagi looked around and then noticed a small unsealed envelope sitting near his outfit on the futon. She picked it up and looked at it. She then walked back to Rei and handed it to her, "Here, it looks like it was meant for you."

Rei hesitated for a moment before she begrudgingly took the envelope and pulled the folded piece of paper out. She really didn't want anything else to do with Chad, but she knew Usagi would just keep pushing. Rei looked down at the letter while Usagi nosily peeked over her shoulder. The letter read:

_Rei, I'm really bad when it comes to saying the right sort of thing, so I bet I'm probably not much better when it comes to writing. So I'll just write what I want. I'll be boarding the 5:00 PM train at the station today, and heading back home. I apologize for any burden or inconvenience I've ever caused you or your grandfather; that was the last thing I ever wanted to do. I can't tell you how grateful I am for your family's generosity towards a bum like me. Lastly, I want you to know how happy just meeting you has made my life. There's no way I'll ever be able to forget you. The time I spent with you and your grandfather at your shrine has been the best fun I've ever had. When I first went out on my own a year ago, I had no idea I would ever meet someone as amazing as you, Rei. I'm just really sorry that I wasn't able to say goodbye to you in person. I wanted to, but I know I'm way too much of a coward._

It was that point that Rei stopped reading and just silently made her way to her bedroom. Usagi followed behind and asked Rei what had happened between the two of them, but Rei simply ignored her. Usagi asked again and again, pestering Rei until. Rei eventually gave in, knowing that Usagi wouldn't shut up otherwise. She explained the fight the two of them had that morning, and what she had said to him. Usagi puffed her face up a little and said, "Jeez Rei! Sounds like you were a real jerk to him!"

"I don't care." Rei said simply as she sat down on her bed, dropped the letter to her side, and pulled out one of the manga books she had bought that afternoon at the bookstore and began to read through it.

"I don't know why you're acting like this." Usagi said then looked at the letter and pointed out, "Look Rei! He let you know the time he'd be leaving and where he will be. He's letting you know the time you have left to make things right! Why don't you go out there and tell him how you feel? I know if you do, then he'll come back." Usagi told her, trying her best to be encouraging and supportive. Usagi always teased Rei about how she felt about Chad, but she knew that deep down the two of them really did like each other.

Rei let out a frustrating sigh and said, "Everything is better this way. We're both better off going our separate ways. He never belonged here. Besides, why should I settle on a guy like him? A guy who isn't even enough of a man to say goodbye to the girl he supposedly has a crush on."

Usagi frowned a little and asked, "Rei! What are you saying? What do you mean 'settling'?"

Rei rolled her eyes, seeing that Usagi was just not going to let this go. She grabbed the letter beside her and began to crumble it up and threw it in to the small waste basket that sat on the floor near her desk. "Look, if you were able to eventually find a prince charming like Mamoru, then why can't I? Even though I go to an all girls school, there are a lot of guys who like me." Rei lied then added, "Why should I settle on a scruffy weakling Chad?"

Usagi puffed her face up again and without warning slapped Rei across the face. Rei's eyes widened and she looked up in shock at Usagi. Usagi looked down at Rei angrily and exclaimed, "I don't know what's gotten in to you, Rei but you're an idiot! Chad is just as much a prince as Mamoru is. Chad loves you from the bottom of his heart, just like how Mamoru does for me. If you can't see that, then you're the real idiot here, even though you always make fun of me."

Rei jumped to her feet angrily and replied, "Just shut up! You don't know what you're talking about. It's better this way. Chad only had a little crush on me, nothing else!"

"You really are an idiot, Rei! No guy goes through everything that he's done for you just for a little crush. I know you feel the same way too, so why don't you stop lying to yourself for once!" Usagi countered.

Suddenly Rei's expression softened a bit and she looked away. Her head tilted down so that her bangs covered her eyes a bit. Usagi watched in surprise as she began to tremble and a tear ran down Rei's cheek. Rei clinched her fist and muttered out, "Don't you think I want to? It's too hard."

"What do you mean?" Usagi asked gently.

Rei didn't want the crybaby to see her crying, so she kept looking away. "It hurts too much to be honest. This isn't what I want; I never wanted it like this. The reason I blew up on him today and what I said, all of it was an act. I was trying to drive him off, I had no choice. If Chad stayed here, then he would have been giving up everything in his life. His family and friends would have all disowned him if he didn't go back and marry that girl. I couldn't let him do that, even if it was what I want." Rei confessed. Even the way she had been acting that afternoon had been a façade. She didn't want to admit that she was hurting, so she tried to lie to herself.

"I know Rei, but it wasn't your choice to make. It was his." Usagi told her as she listened closely. She did her best not to start crying too. She walked over to her desk and pulled out the letter Rei had thrown in to her waste basket. She slowly uncrumbled the letter and looked down at it. Usagi's eyes widened and she held out the letter to Rei and asked, "Rei! Did you read the last part?"

Rei quickly wiped her eyes on her arm and then looked up at the letter once again. There was one final part she hadn't read. It said:

_This is the hardest decision I've ever had to make. But if it ends up helping your family and the shrine, then I make it without any regrests…_

Rei blinked a bit and grabbed the letter, reading over it closely a couple of more times. What did that last part mean? She needed to know, so she quickly went in to the living room where her grandfather was and showed the letter to him and asked if he knew what the last part meant. Rei's grandpa paused for a second and said, "Oh…well Chad didn't really want me to tell you but uhh…you see…it seems that nice curvy young little lady wasn't as sweet as she seemed. Turned out that she threatened to use some of her connections to cause legal problems for our shrine if Chad didn't go with her. Something about trying to repossess our land or something like that. That's what finally forced Chad to go back."

"You mean he…he did it for us?" Rei asked in shock. It hadn't been because of the horrible things she had said to him that morning. She looked back down at the time of his train on the letter. She then looked over at the nearby clock on the wall and saw that it was almost time. Without a word, Rei ran to the door and slipped her shoes on and then sprinted out of the house. She could hear her heart beating in her ears as she ran, her breath labored. But she couldn't stop; if she did then she might miss seeing him. Rei didn't know what she was going to say to him when she saw him. But she couldn't let the nasty things she said before be the last words between them. She'd never forgive herself. It was almost five and it was dusk. She saw the station come in to sight and she checked her time. She was relieved to see she had almost five minutes to spare. But as she reached the platform, she saw a train heading off and there was no sight of Chad. She looked up at the station clock, and she had made it in time but he was nowhere to be found.

Rei walked over to a station attendant and asked about the train that Chad had referenced in his letter. The attendant apologized and explained that there was an error, and that train had been running about five minutes ahead of schedule. He asked if she had a ticket, and offered to get her a refund. Rei simply shook her head silently and walked away. The train she had seen going out of sight right when she arrived must have been the one Chad was on. Once she was alone on the empty platform, she couldn't help but fall to her knees as tears streamed down her cheeks.

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I thought this chapter was going to be extremely long but it came out pretty average. Thanks for reading everybody and I hope to have another chapter for you all in about two weeks or so. That will be when finals end. As always leave a review or comment if you'd like and I will update as soon as possible.


	6. Chapter 6

Wow, lots of review for the last chapter. Thanks everyone for the awesome support and feedback. As for those asking about the length of the story. It's basically going to be as long as it needs to be. No more, no less. I don't want to extend this story just for the sake of extending it. There are probably going to be 3 or so more chapters, depending on if things go right now as I plan them to. Anyways, on to the good stuff.

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Rei let out a low groan as her alarm clock began to go off that morning. She lazily draped her arm out and let her palm fall on top of the snooze button. Through her half open eyes, she could see out through the small opening between her curtains to see that it looked like it would be a cloudy dreary day. The perfect kind of day to sleep in and not get out of bed, which seemed perfect to Rei since she had no desire or motivation to get out of bed. It wasn't on account of the weather though. No, she had been like this for a whole week. Strange, one week. Seven days. Was that all it had been? Rei laid on her side with her beautiful dark eyes looking out at nothing in particular in the dark room, and thought about the past week. It had been one week since Chad had left her family's shrine. For Rei it had been an agonizingly long week. One that seemed to just go on and on forever. It hadn't been long on account of anything in particular that had happened or anything at school; on the contrary, it had everything to do with what had not happened. Namely, not having Chad around anymore.

Rei was amazed, horrified, and terribly depressed by just how bleak her life seemed now that Chad was gone. She couldn't believe that she had never noticed it before, but he had become a very central and important part of her life. Her home no longer felt normal. It felt…empty. There was a very comfortable part of it that was now missing. She had never noticed just how much he always seemed to do for her, the small yet sweet little acts of kindness such as offering to make her school lunch some mornings when she would be too tired from staying up late and studying for a big exam, or helping out with the preparations for important festivals or events at the shrine.

Rei bit her lip a little and her nimble fingers slowly curled around the covers of her bed. She had come to expect all of those sweet things, and had taken them for granted. She had taken Chad for granted, and she was starting to hate herself a little for it. He had always been so nice to her, and it now seemed like all she had ever done was make fun of him or belittle in return. She wondered what he thought of her. Considering the way their last conversation had gone, he probably thought something horrible of her. That was what hurt and bothered Rei the most, the way they had parted. She felt so guilty that the last time they saw each other she had been just horrible to him. Especially since given the circumstances, he had been sticking up for her.

Rei was pulled out of depressing thoughts when she heard her alarm going off again. She knew she had to get up so she sat up and turned her alarm off. She then stood up and made her way to her closet to put on her school uniform. That was another thing she had come to miss. Sometimes if she had trouble waking up in the morning, Chad would knock on her door in that timid sheepish way of his and make sure she had woken up. It had annoyed her before since she felt like he was being nosy, but now she would love to have that sweet dummy poke his head in to her room to make sure she got out of bed. If that did happen, Rei knew she would take the chance to apologize for the way things had ended between them. She just wanted a chance to apologize for being mean and teasing him so much, and to thank him for always being there for her. Unfortunately she didn't know any way to get in touch with him. She didn't know where he lived or anyone else who would. Even if she did though, would he even want to see her? Rei wasn't so sure.

Rei hurried to finish up and then grabbed her bento box from the kitchen and walked out the door with a piece of toast in her free hand for breakfast. Rei and her grandfather now had to take up the chores Chad used to do, so neither of them had much time to make breakfast. Rei looked up at the sky to see it was very dark and cloudy, so she grabbed an umbrella near the door. She sighed a bit; it seemed as if the weather wasn't too inclined to try to help uplift her mood. She checked the nearby clock to see how much time she had and then started walking towards her school, and along the way it started to rain.

Later on that day in the middle of the city, a group of men were sitting at a long table on the top floor of a business building. It was an important meeting among the company's board and some of their share holders. One man stood in front of the rest wearing a black suit with a large poster presentation sitting on an easel that showed various graphs and charts. "So as everyone can see, by cutting this section of the company, we stand to raise our profit margins by a significant amount." The man said.

The man then paused a bit as his speech was being drowned out by the low continuous sound of snoring. He looked down the table and saw the newest member to their group sitting at the right side of the company president. He was slumped over in his leather chair fast asleep. The man frowned a bit and cleared his throat a bit before he spoke, "Ahem, Mr. Kumada, Sir. I believe your son has a little drool."

This made the rest of the men in the meeting start to chuckle a bit under their breath. Mr. Kumada, Chad's father, sat at the head of the table and wore a brown suit and had a brown mustache over his face. He grumbled a little as he looked at his slacker of a son slumped over so carefree with his mouth open and drool running down the side of his chin. Mr. Kumada had never felt so embarrassed in his life. The man quickly kicked Chad's chair underneath the table making him jump up startled a bit. He looked around and asked, "Uhh, what's up everybody?"

"What's 'up' is that you so rudely fell asleep during Mr. Tanaka's very important presentation, Yuuichirou." Mr. Kumada said in an aggravated tone.

"Oh…uhh sorry Dude, do you think you could give me the cliff notes version and fill me in?" Chad asked, rubbing the back of his head a bit as his bangs fell back in front of his eyes.

"Oh dear God…" Mr. Kumada said with a grimacing look on his face, "The 'cliff notes' is that if we get rid of one of our divisions then we stand to increase our profits."

"Oh…so that means firing a bunch of people right?" Chad asked.

Mr. Kumada nodded and said, "Yes. What about it?"

"Well, we're not going to do it, are we Dad? We're gonna put a lot of people out of work just so that everyone here gets more money? Doesn't seem all that great of a trade off. I mean, doesn't everyone in here have enough money already?" Chad questioned which started to make everyone in the meeting room begin to crack up with laughter, despite all of them trying to keep their composure.

"Alright alright! That's all for today, meeting is adjourned." Mr. Kumada said as he stood up from the table. The group of men all began to slowly exit the room until it was just Chad and his dad. Mr. Kumada looked out the window for a moment and then back at Chad and asked, "Yuuichirou! What's the matter with you?"

"Uhh, what do you mean, Dad?" Chad asked as he stood up from the chair and stretched his arms out a bit and yawned.

"You fell asleep in a very important meeting and embarrassed me in front of the entire board! I brought you here to teach you how the company works and begin preparing you to take over some responsibility in the company so that you can run it on your own in the future. It's as if you don't even care about our family's company. If you're going to have a future here, then you're going to have to take things like this seriously. I mean, just look at your tie." Mr. Kumada said, motioning to Chad's disheveled looking appearance.

Chad looked down at his tie that was clearly crooked and not tied very well. He had gotten Kasumi to help him that morning, but unfortunately she wasn't that much better at it than he was. "Sorry Dad, it was just an accident."

"Well we can't be having any more accidents like that from now on. Anyways, go on ahead and take your lunch hour. We've got other people to meet with at the country club today. Oh, and please do….something with that hair of yours. You look like you should be out on the streets." Mr. Kumada told him and then started to gather his materials in to his briefcase.

"Y-yes sir." Chad said with a nod and then made his way out of the meeting room and down the hallway. Chad walked along as he looked out the windows to see that it was slowly yet continuously raining down. He looked at his reflection in the window to see himself in the dark blue suit with the weirdly done tie. He thought he looked like such a tool. He brought his hands up to his neck and tried to adjust and fix his tie as best he could, even though he really had no idea what he was doing. He remembered that night before when Rei had done it for him so easily. He blushed a little as he remembered it. He stared out the window a little more and looked at the forested looking area towards the edge of the city and he smiled a bit. That was the area where the Hikawa shrine was. It was funny, he really missed all the manual labor his sensei had made him do. It had been hard, but he had enjoyed it far more than working in this office.

It had been a week since he had moved back home, and Chad had found it to be an agonizingly long week. He was bored out of his mind with all of this business stuff. It wasn't his fault that he had fallen asleep in that last meeting; he hadn't been sleeping too well. He felt so out of place, being back in this sort of setting that it was taking him time to get used to again. He never had any trouble sleeping when he was at the Hikawa shrine; he was always too exhausted to not want to sleep. That was then, but this was now and this was where he was. Surrounded by people who had nothing better to talk about than things he had no care or interest in at all. He was glad to see his family again, but he hadn't missed their life style in the slightest, or the kinds of people they chose to associate themselves with.

Chad had been quickly reminded why he had left in the first place a year ago, and he found himself missing being at the shrine each and every day. He missed the serenity of it, as well as the bizarre craziness that could sometimes take place with his sensei. A small smile crept on to Chad's lips as he remembered all the times he had been forced to help his sensei out of tough jams. Usually they involved the old man going a little too far with his lecherous advances on the young girls. Chad would have to quickly interject and try to mend things. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes he'd just end up having to take a slap to the face in place of his sensei. It was the strange yet memorable things like that which Chad missed most. It was life, plain and simple. An interesting life. Not like here though. Around here, everyone was alive in the medical sense, but they seemed to lack any real passions or dreams. The stuff that made life worth living. Except of course when it came to money. Always working to try to move up that corporate ladder or make that big bonus. What a pitiful way to live, at least that was how Chad saw it.

Of course, the one thing, well person, that Chad missed most of all was Rei. He remembered the first time he ever met her. He was stumbled over the steps of her family's shrine after a crazy night of partying with some local guys he had met. He fell for her the first time he ever saw her. She was by far the most beautiful girl he had ever met before in his life. But that wasn't all. It wasn't just that she was beautiful, but she was so fiery and alive. She was so refreshingly unreserved, so open and emotional. She had a fiery temper and was pretty haughty, but that just made her so much more stunning. Chad then knew that he would do anything just for the chance to get to know her a little better. That was why he had begged her grandfather to take him in as an apprentice. His wish was granted. He was actually able to live under the same roof as her, and he was able to get to know her very well. To his delight, every passing day she just seemed to amaze and dazzle him all the more. Rei loved to put on a tough act, and she would always tease him for being shy and a little wimpy; but Chad was able to see through it. Underneath all of that, was a very sweet, tender, and caring person. He could see it in the way she acted with her friends and everyone around her. Chad had left home to try to see the world and broaden his horizons, but he had never expected to meet someone like Rei. Nor had he expected to fall in love.

Chad sighed a bit and slipped his hands in to his coat pockets, and then headed towards the elevator. He hit the down button and waited for the doors to open up. Once the elevator arrived, he stepped inside and hit the ground floor button. He tried his best to take his mind off of it, but he really missed Rei. He hoped she was doing well. Thinking back on it, she was probably right to tease him for not acting manly a lot of times. He wished he had done so. He wished he had mustered up the courage to tell her just how amazing he thought she was.

Rei sat in class and tried her best to stay away, but her head and her eyes continued to grow heavy, which made her head bob up and down a bit. She looked up at the clock to see that school was almost done for the day. She had been feeling tired lately since she hadn't been sleeping too well. She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened between her and Chad. She wanted to sleep. Oh how she wished so badly to sleep a lot. Maybe then she could at least have some comforting dreams to make her feel better. The last few nights, when she was ready to go crazy from just laying there in bed for hours and hoping to fall asleep, she would get up and sit in front of her keyboard and try to work on her music. She figured if she couldn't sleep, then the least she could do was be productive and do something. She hoped that working on her music would help take her mind off of things and then make her sleepy. But she found little solace in her music. In fact, she found that she could barely concentrate on it like she could before. She'd just sit there with her pencil in hand, trying her best to think up some nice melody to jot down on the music sheets, but she just kept drawing a blank.

Rei remembered back when she was working on composing all of the music for the school festival. That had really been something. There were times when she'd want to just tear all of it up. Luckily she had Chad there to help her. He really liked music so he would offer his ear to whatever she was working on and then give his opinion on what he liked and what he didn't. He would also sometimes have really good ideas that helped her a lot. He was always really supportive and encouraging of her music, even when she thought it was horrible.

The bell finally rang and classes were dismissed for the day. Rei slowly rose from her seat and placed her book bag on top of her desk. She began to put away her notebook and pencils when she overheard some of her classmates talking. She heard one of the girls mention something about an older sister named Kasumi that was about to get married. Rei's eyes widened and she wondered if she could be talking about Chad's fiancé. The girl then said something about how she had been overseas for a year. Rei was sure they were talking about that Kasumi. She then heard the girl talk about some sort of big party they were throwing for them. Rei wondered if maybe she could get in to that party and then find Chad to set things right with him. Unfortunately he heard the girl say that it was by invitation only. Rei looked down disappointedly and decided to return home for the day.

Rei returned to the shrine to see her pervy grandfather hitting on some high school girls. Rei rolled her eyes a little and shook her head. She smiled a bit and thought to herself that at least she knew for certain that there were some things that would never change. Rei quickly walked in to the house and made her way to her bedroom since she needed to help out around the shrine that afternoon. She walked to her closet and started to change in to her red and white miko outfit. She turned around once she had changed clothes and was about to walk out to the shrine when she paused. She saw something out of the corner of her eye and slowly turned to see something peeking out from underneath her school blouse which she had put on the bed. She pushed the blouse to the side to see a small envelope had been placed on her bed. She opened the envelope up curiously and her eyes widened in shock to see that it was an invitation to a party. The party that Chad's family was holding. Rei's whole face lit up in pure joy. This was it, this was her chance.

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Not too much going on this chapter, but the next one should be pretty fun. I have one last final this Friday that I need to study a lot for. But then the summer will begin and I should hopefully have more free time for writing. As always, thanks for reading everybody, leave a review or comment if you wish, and tune in next time to check out the party.


	7. Chapter 7

Well everyone, school is finally out and that means it's time to write more! Unfortunately I'm taking a three week class that is keeping me busy with stuff on the weekdays still. It's also pretty boring too. But oh well! I come with a new chapter! And yes, I did know about them remaking Sailor Moon, although I'm not sure what to think of it. Guess I'll just wait and see.

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"Hmm….hmm…ugh, I just don't know." Rei grimaced as she stood in front of the long mirror that was hung from her closet door as she held different outfits in front of her body, trying to decide what she should wear to the party. In one hand, she had the red dress she had worn the one time she had sung in front of her school. In the other hand, she had a more modest and simple black satin dress. "What do you wear when you're going to a part for the sole purpose of apologizing for being a giant jerk to a guy? Especially when it's a party you really have no right being invited to in the first place. What do you think, Usagi?"

Rei turned around to look at Usagi, who was sitting on her bed, and trying to get some advice. But Rei raised her eyebrow suspiciously when she saw the strange coy grin that ran across Usagi's face as she stared at her. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?" Rei asked.

"You're acting all cute, Rei! Trying to dress nice for your big crush. You want must really want to impress him tonight and catch his attention." Usagi said teasingly.

Rei bit her lip a bit and her eyebrows furrowed, "That's not it at all! The invitation said it was formal dress attire so we both have to dress up so that we will be let in."

"Yeah sure…but you are right, it's hard to figure out what to wear when you're going off to try to break off an engagement." Usagi remarked, still grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm not going to break anything off! Like I told you before, I was really mean to him the last time we saw each other and I want to apologize! That is all!" Rei protested passionately.

"You say that, but we both know that once you get there and are all nice and close to Chad, and you're looking up in to his big brown eyes that's going to change. You're going to be all like…" Usagi paused and then wrapped her arms around her front and continued, "Oh Chad! I love you soooo much! Please don't marry that pretty girl, come back home with me! I miss you sooo much!"

Rei began to blush pure red and grabbed her pillow from the top of her bed and hit Usagi over the head playfully and exclaimed, "Shut up! I swear you're so stupid, Dumpling Head!"

Usagi pulled the pillow away from her head and puffed her cheeks out then said, "Why don't you just fess up? It's so obvious. Everyone else knows you like him. Well….except for Chad. He's a nice guy and all, but he doesn't know how to read between the lines."

"There's nothing between the lines but blank space. And even if there was something, it's only because you wrote it in." Rei said then turned back to her mirror and looked over her two dresses of choice a bit more. She still wasn't sure which was the best way to go. She looked back towards Usagi and added, "Besides, this party is to celebrate those two about to get married. All of that stuff is already set."

"You say that, but if that was the case then why did he send you this nice invitation?" Usagi asked as she picked up the unsealed envelope off of Rei's dresser and held it up.

"I guess he just wanted to be considerate to Grandpa and me." Rei said simply. She looked at her red dress a bit more than decided on it.

"Then shouldn't you take your Grandpa? I bet that would make things more fun." Usagi said as she imagined the small pervy old man running around and hitting on all the underage girls.

"If by fun you mean a great way to get kicked out before I can even try to apologize, then yeah." Rei said, a tad annoyed at the idea and then pushed Usagi out of the room so that she could change clothes.

"So why are you wanting me to go again?" Usagi asked through the door.

"I told you already. I want you to distract Chad's annoying fiancé. If she sees me there then she'll probably be all clingy to him and I won't be able to apologize." Rei explained. "Just use your pen to transform in to someone you think she'd want to really talk to."

Rei's grandfather sat in the living room at the table as he held a cup of hot tea in his hands. He took a small sip just as he heard Rei and her friend walking towards the front door. He caught a peek of Rei walk by in a dress and she told him she was leaving. Since he had a mouth full of tea in his mouth, he simply nodded to her and watched her head out. He could only guess where the two of them were going off to. Rei's grandfather had been pleasantly surprised that she had not asked him specifically where the invitation had come from and how it had gotten in to her room; for that, he was glad. He didn't want to lie to her, but he knew that she would be hesitant on using it if she had found out where it was from. He had seen how down Rei had become and wanted to try to help her in some way. That was when an old friend had been asking about his previous apprentice. His friend had heard about some big get together that was going on and had overheard that Chad was going to be there.

Rei's grandfather had thought it over for quite a bit, but eventually he ended up making a call to his no good son-in-law, Rei's father. Grandpa knew that because he was a powerful politician, he was often sent lots of invitations and requests to attend social gatherings and parties, a lot of which he would pass up on. Grandpa had to swallow a lot of his pride and a few less than nice words that he wanted to say. But this was for Rei, so he held his tongue and asked her father if he had gotten an invitation to the event, and if not then if he would pull a string or two to get an invite. Needless to say, he was able to acquire an invitation. Grandpa just wished he wouldn't have to tell Rei it had come from her father.

Rei and Usagi took the train to their destination and walked along on foot from the station. As they walked along a secluded road that was lined with trees, Usagi looked around and asked, "Rei, are you sure we're going the right way? I don't see anything."

"I'm positive. I was really careful when I was finding out the directions. Anyways, shouldn't you use your pen to turn clothes in to a dress?" Rei asked, looking over her shoulder at Usagi who was still wearing her casual clothes.

"Okay." Usagi replied and pulled out her changing pen. She thought for a few moments about what she wanted to change in to and then raised the pin in to the air and looked around to make sure there was no one else around. She then called out for it to make in to a 'beautiful princess'. There was a glow of light and soon Usagi was dressed in a large elaborate dress.

"Really? You're going with the 'Princess' thing again? Don't you think that's a little over the top?" Rei asked, her hands resting on her hips and her head tilted slightly to the side.

"No way! It's a lot of fun to wear something this fancy! Besides, this way I will attract a lot of attention and look really important and interesting to Chad's fiancé." Usagi explained.

"You'll be attracting lots of attention, that's for sure." Rei commented and the two girls then continued to walk for a couple of minutes. Eventually they turned in to a bend of the road and were greeted by the sight of a large mansion surrounded by an iron gate.

The two girls looked at the large house in awe for a few moments in complete silence before Usagi looked over to Rei and asked, "So…do you think it's big enough?"

"Good question." Rei said simply. The two scouts then walked through the main gate which had been left open and then up to the front doors. There was a man in the front who took their invitation and inspected it for a few seconds before he allowed the two girls inside. They were led in to what appeared to be a rather large extravagant ballroom. There were a lot of people dressed up even nicer than they were. They were all dancing, chatting, or drinking some sort of punch.

"Wow, it looks like they're really going all out!" Usagi said in surprise as the two of them looked around curiously.

"Well, just keep your eye out for Chad and that Kasumi girl. They're probably around her somewhere….I bet she's really clingy too." Rei said, muttering the last part under her breath. The two girls tried to mix in to the crowd so that they didn't stick out too much. There were a few minutes where the two of them were being hit on by a group of older guys but they were eventually able to move on. Rei ended up spotting Chad in the far back of the room near the wall with a bunch of other guys who looked to be around his age. They seemed to all be joking around and talking about something. Rei could only guess that they were some of Chad's old friends. Rei smiled a bit since it seemed like they were having a good time, and what made it even better was that Kasumi was nowhere to be seen. But Rei kind of wished that they would all split apart for a little bit, so that she could walk up to him. It'd be really embarrassing and awkward if she walked up by herself out of nowhere.

Meanwhile Usagi was trying to get away from the older men trying to make moves on her. She tried to politely explain that she already had a boyfriend. Once she was able to get away from them though, she noticed Kasumi talking with a bunch of other girls and women near the refreshments table. Usagi smiled a bit and felt her stomach rumble a bit. This would be a great way for her to go over and distract Chad's fiancé while also getting the chance to do some snacking. Usagi walked over to the table and poured herself a glass of punch from a large glass bowel sitting on the table. She took a small sip and then injected herself in to a conversation with the older girls. She tried to talk in a regal voice and explained that she was some princess from a far off land. She had been in the country for an even and had heard about their party. Strangely, it seemed to work.

Rei waited until she noticed some of Chad's friends were spreading out in to the crowd and talking to various other people or starting to dance with girls. Rei slowly made her way across the room but Chad didn't see her since his back was turned away from her direction, looking out a large nearby window. He didn't hear Rei walking up to him so he didn't turn in towards her. Rei cleared her throat a bit and then said softly, "Uh hey! Nice party."

Chad turned around in surprise and shock when he heard Rei's voice and found that she was standing there. "R-rei!? What uhh…..what are you doing here?" He asked.

"What am I doing here? You sent me an invitation. Although you really shouldn't have, after well you know. Me being all mean to you." Rei said, a little embarrassed. She blushed a bit after seeing him again. She now had her chance to apologize but it embarrassed her.

"I shouldn't have, huh? Well I guess that's alright since I didn't. I had no idea you were showing up. Weird huh?" Chad said and then laughed lightly as he rubbed the back of his head.

"What!? That's weird…" Rei said then looked over her should towards the refreshments table where Usagi and Kasumi were standing. If Chad hadn't been the one to invite her then could it have been her? Why? Rei shrugged off the question though, it really didn't matter. She looked back to Chad and continued, "Anyways, are you having fun? Glad to be back around here?"

Chad looked away a bit and muttered, "Uhh, it's alright I guess. But how about you? How are you and your grandfather doing?"

"We're both doing great! Everything is going great!" Rei lied with a big smile on her face. She didn't want him to know that they were having to readjust to him not being around anymore. There was a long and awkward silence between the two of them until Rei looked up and added, "Uhh, actually to tell the truth, I came here for a specific reason."

"Oh really? What's that?" Chad asked curiously.

Rei blushed a bit and looked away, biting her lip. "I…just wanted to say that well…I'm really sorry."

"Huh? Sorry for what?" Chad asked honestly, tilting his head a little the side.

"Oh c'mon, you know! For saying all of those mean things to you last time we saw each other. I shouldn't have done that, especially since you were just trying to help me out." Rei explained.

"Oh that? Heh don't worry about it, no harm done." Chad said lightly, smiling a bit.

"No harm done? You can't be serious Chad! I was really cruel to you! You can't just leave me off the hook like that." Rei said then clinched her fist a bit, "Can't you just, you know…get mad at me? You shouldn't let me get away with being that mean to you! Act like a man, for once."

"Then in that case, would you uhh….like to dance?" Chad asked shyly, blushing a bit as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"W-what?!" Rei said in surprise. "Were you even listening to me?"

"You said act like a man, right? Well, this is a party. And a man would ask the pretty girl in front of him to dance. So, do you want to?" Chad explained, still blushing a bit.

Rei smiled a bit and nodded, "Sure, sounds good."

Meanwhile Usagi was having quite a time of her own. "I'm telling you Kasumi, this punch is just terrific. And fantastic party! I'm so glad I took the night off from all of my very important princessie things to come here." Usagi said, trying to sound very classical and fancy. But it was becoming harder between the hiccups and her words starting to slur a bit. Needless to say the punch wasn't meant for minors and Usagi was starting to get a tad tipsy.

"Uhh yes, well thank you for your kind words." Kasumi said, trying to sound polite even though she was starting to feel a tad uneasy around Usagi a bit. "Where did you say you were from again, Princess…uhh?"

"Oh me! Moon! Yes, I am from the moon and I am the moon princess." Usagi said and drank a bit more punch as she hiccupped.

"Really? The moon? Well that really is something else." Kasumi said. She was playing along since she could tell the younger girl in front of her had obviously had enough of the punch. "You know, how about you ask one of the servants to get you a nice bottle of water while I go look for my fiancé."

Usagi's eyes widened when she heard this and she was reminded of what she was originally supposed to be doing. She looked out on the dance floor and saw Chad and Rei together. She knew it wouldn't be good if Kasumi saw this. Thinking fast, Usagi did the only thing she could think of. She took her glass, dipped it in to the punch, and then poured it over Kasumi's head.

"Wh-what are you doing?!" Kasumi asked in shock. Her hair was now soaked and sticky, and it was dripping down her head on to her pink dress.

"Oh this!? Well it's a very important pre-wedding tradition from where I'm from!" Usagi explained.

"Where you're from? You mean the moon?" Kasumi asked, being quite annoyed from the surprise.

"Yes, that's right! It's meant for good luck. Now, to finish the tradition we must go upstairs and change your clothes right now! Come come! Everyone, let's go!" Usagi said with a big grin as she started to push Kasumi and the rest of the group of girls out of the room and towards the stairs in the front of the house.

Rei blushed a bit when she and Chad walked on to the dance floor. She felt Chad took her hand in to his and his other hand rested on the small of her back. She placed her free hand on his shoulder and looked up at his face. His hair was pushed out of his eyes and tied back while his face was clean-shaven. She was surprised, but she sort of missed his normal stubble. He looked really different without it. She then said, "Just thought I'd let you know, I'm not that good at this sort of dancing."

"Oh uhh really? Well that's…uhh not good." Chad told her a bit nervously as the two of them started to move to the music.

"Oh? Why?" Rei asked curiously. As she moved forward the tip of heel dug in to Chad's foot.

Chad bit his lip and groaned a bit. "Ugh...because I've never been good at dancing either." He told her just as his foot stepped on her toes.

"Ouch!" Rei exclaimed as a sweat drop appeared on the top of her head. "Well, this is going to be fun." She said sarcastically. The two of them danced and tried their best not to step on each other's feet anymore. Instead they started to bump in to other people, which netted them quite a few unpleasant looks. But the two of them ignored it. Neither of them said it, but they were just happy to be around each other once again. Once the music stopped the two of them walked off the dance floor; they both figured they had made fools of themselves enough for one evening. "Wow, you were right. You are pretty bad at that, we both are."

"Yeah, but you were right too. It was fun." Chad remarked with a small goofy smile on his face. They two of them started to laugh a little in response.

Once they had stopped laughing, Rei looked up at him and asked, "So…the two of us are okay?"

Chad nodded with a small smile and replied, "Of course! We were never not okay. I wasn't mad at you."

Rei smiled a bit and remarked, "You really are too nice for your own good, Chad."

"So…would you maybe like to hang out sometime? We probably won't see each other very much anymore. But, do you want to keep in touch?" Chad asked curiously.

Rei looked down at the floor for a moment and thought it over. Stay in touch? No, that wasn't what she wanted. Not at all. She wanted things back to the way they were before. She wanted to be selfish and tell him to leave all of this behind and go back with her. She figured he would probably say yes if she did ask him; it wasn't as if he had ever said no to one of her requests. That's what she wanted to do, but she couldn't. Rei looked back at him and put on a fake smile and lied, "Sure, that sounds nice. Now, where's Usagi?"

"Usagi? She came with you?" Chad asked since he hadn't seen her at all that night.

"Yeah, she was around here somewhere. She was talking with your fiancé and having some punch and snacks." Rei said then saw her walking back in with Kasumi and some other girls.

"She was drinking the punch? Well that's not good." Chad said.

"Huh? Why?" Rei asked but then saw Usagi swaying around and then fell to the floor. A sweat drop appeared on her head and she said, "Oh…that's why. Great…"

"You might want to get her home." Chad suggested.

Rei nodded and then looked back at him and smiled, "Well….I guess I'll see you around sometime." She then hurried off to Usagi's side.

Usagi looked up to see Rei and smiled happily then threw her arms around Rei's shoulders, "Rei-rei! My good friend, are you having fun too?" Usagi asked.

"Sure thing. But right now, we need to get you home." Rei told Usagi and put one of her arms around the blonde girl's waist so she didn't stumble around so much.

"You! What are you doing here!?" Kasumi asked in a flustered voice when she saw Rei.

"Making sure Dumpling Head here doesn't fall on her face." Rei said with a small smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but leave now!" Kasumi ordered.

Usagi hiccupped again then looked up at Rei and said, "Hey Rei-rei! Did you see me dunk the punch on her head? It was really funny! But that's how we celebrate weddings on the moon."

"Oh really? Is that so? Well in that case, I'll give my best regards to the bride to be." Rei said and then picked up the whole bowl of punch and poured it over Kasumi's head. Then to top it off she put the bowel on the soaking wet Kasumi's head upside down like a large glass helmet. "Congratulations. Well I'll be going now. C'mon Usagi."

The two girls walked out of the large house with Usagi still hiccupping and dragging her feet a bit as she said, "Rei-rei! You're my best friend and I love you soooo much! You know, we should go get Ami, Mako, and Mina and all move in together! Wouldn't that be fun?"

"I think we should get you some coffee first." Rei told her as they made their way to the train station.

"Aww! But I hate coffee!" Usagi complained.

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I had some serious writer's block with this chapter for some reason, no idea why. Anyways everyone, I think the next chapter will probably be the finale. As always, leave a review or comment or shoot me a pm if you wish. I'll try to get the next chapter up next week. Thank you for your patience and thanks as always for reading! ^.^


	8. Chapter 8

Here it is everyone, the final chapter. Thanks so much to everyone for taking an interest in this story and reading up to this point. And most of all thank you for all of the support.

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Early one evening Rei stood outside a small café, waiting on Chad to show up. The two of them had planned to meet up and hang out for a bit. That night at the party, they had decided to make sure to keep and touch and be friends. Rei had said she had thought it had been a great idea even though she thought it might be hard, but Rei had decided to try it out and get used to it. If things couldn't be back to the way they were before, then at the very least they could stay in touch. She looked down at her attire as she tapped her feet together, getting a little impatient. She had worn light pink overalls and a white shirt, very casual. After all, it wasn't as if they were on a date or anything.

"I hope you weren't waiting long." Rei heard someone say behind her. She turned around to see Chad standing there in a business suit, his tie undone and draped around his shoulders.

Rei smiled a little and said, "Not too long, you're awfully dressed up."

"Yeah…I just came from my dad's office. He's been having me work with him since I've been back." He explained as the two of them started to walk down the street.

"How has that been?" Rei asked.

"Umm, it's been….enlightening." Chad told her.

"What do you mean?" Rei asked curiously.

"Before, I always thought that I'd really hate working for my family's business, but I don't anymore. Now I know for a fact I hate it." Chad explained as the two of them walked in to the small café and grabbed a couple of milkshakes. Rei heard this and started to laugh a bit. Chad looked over at her curiously and asked, "What's so funny?"

"It's just…imagining you in a big business meeting or something like that. It's hysterical." Rei said, trying to keep herself from laughing out of her seat.

"Yeah well…you wouldn't be the first person to laugh at me in that situation." Chad told her, thinking back to the last time he had been forced to go in to a meeting with his father. He had been asleep for most of it, and when he wasn't asleep he apparently said things that he found as being common sense, but everyone else found laughable, literally.

After that, the two of them remained silent for a couple of minutes. Rei could tell there was a feeling of awkwardness between them. She could tell that this was as strange for him as it was for her. She gazed her eyes down at his hands which were resting on the counter. She cleared her throat a bit then asked, "So…when is the wedding?" She had noticed there was no gold band around his finger, not yet.

"Uhh, the day after tomorrow. Seems like everyone is really eager for it." Chad told her, looking away a little. Rei could tell he wasn't too eager to talk about it.

"I hope you won't hold it against me if I don't show up. I don't think your fiancé would be too happy to see me." Rei said, and at this the two of them started to laugh together a little. Rei bit her lip a little when she heard their wedding was coming so close. She tried her best not to admit it, but she was jealous. She couldn't tell him though; she didn't want to cause him any trouble.

"You're probably right about that. After what happened at the party, she…well things were said that I probably shouldn't repeat." Chad told her.

"Yeah…sorry about that." Rei said, even though she wasn't sorry at all.

"Don't worry about it, that party was a real bore before you and Usagi showed up." Chad told her. Once they were done, they decided to just walk around the town for a bit until it started to get late. Chad offered to walk Rei back to the shrine. She refused at first but then said it was alright. They took a short cut through a nearby park.

As they walked around, Rei noticed that this park was a popular place for couples which made her feel a tad embarrassed. She looked up at Chad and noticed he wasn't bothered at all by it; it turned out that Chad didn't know anything about it and just knew that it was a faster way back to the shrine. They walked along the path but then stopped in their tracks when they heard the sound of someone scream out. The two of them ran in the direction of the scream and came across an opening where a young couple were laying unconscious on the ground while a youma flew down from the sky above their heads. Rei eyes widened when she realized it was the same one that had given them the slip before, the one that had been at the restaurant. Rei quickly turned to Chad and said, "Listen! You need to hide and stay out of sight while I take care of that thing."

"But what if you need help?" Chad began, trying to protest but Rei quickly covered his mouth and shook her head.

"This isn't the time to argue. Now hide or get out of here." Rei told him in a whisper. She then called out. "Mars Power Makeup." And transformed in to Sailor Mars.

To get the youma's attention away from its prey, Rei pointed out towards it and called out, "Hey! If you're looking for someone to snack on, try it with me first!" The youma looked up to see the Sailor Scout and let out a loud shriek that made Rei wince, her ears ringing. The youma kept focusing its scream on Rei to the point where she was starting to feel dizzy. She looked up at the last second to see that the youma was diving straight at her from the sky with a long sharp clawed talon posed right at her head. At the last second though Rei felt her body knocked away and to the ground, with Chad on top of her. He had saved her yet again from the youma.

Chad had gotten clawed by the youma on his back, his shirt torn up and he was starting to bleed a bit. He didn't notice any of it though. He looked down at Rei and asked, "Are you okay?"

Rei blushed a bit and then exclaimed, "What's wrong with you, you dummy! I'm the one with powers here, not you!"

"Haven't we gone through this before? I guess I just never learn, huh?" Chad said with a small smile on his face.

Rei looked over his shoulder to see the youma coming down at them once again, so Rei quickly rolled the two of them over and jumped to her feet. "Please, stay out of this! I don't want to see you get hurt." Rei pleaded as she started to dodge the youma's attack and tried to wait for a chance to attack.

Chad slowly rose to his feet and winced in pain from the injury on his back. "And she thinks I want to see her get hurt instead?" He said to himself in a muttered voice.

Finally, Rei was given her chance as the youma flew back up in to the air. She placed her index fingers together and fired a large fireball at the youma. The youma tried to dodge but its wings were set a flame and it fell down to the ground with a loud thud. The youma slowly rose to its feet, looking extremely pissed off. It opened its mouth and Rei could feel it start to build up a lot of energy. It blasted a shock wave at Rei, but Chad once again pushed her out of the way and took the blunt of the attack when sent him flying backwards and in to the trunk of a tree.

Rei clinched her fist in anger and yelled out, "Stop attacking my boyfriend!" She then fired the largest fireball of her life at the youma which enveloped it in flames and left only ashes. Once the youma was destroyed for good, Rei let out a sigh of relief. She couldn't wait to tell the rest of the scouts that it was finally taken care of. She looked back at Chad and said, "You idiot! Quit doing things like that, you're going to get yourself…." Rei paused when she noticed that Chad was laid out on the ground and wasn't moving.

Rei quickly ran over to Chad and knelt down next to him. She was worried that he may have really gotten hurt this time. She sat beside him in the grass and rested his head on her lap, his brown hair feeling soft on her bare legs. She looked down at him with a worried expression on her face. She tried her best to keep tears coming from her eyes and said, "You…you dummy. Now you've really gone and done it! Don't you care about what happens to you?"

Chad groaned a bit and said in a low soft voice, "I just care more about you, Rei. That's all. I don't want to see you hurt. And I'm alright." He smiled a little up at her and slowly sat up.

"And you think I want to see hurt instead? This sort of stuff is normal for me, so you can't just jump in front of me every time I'm in danger." Rei protested.

"I can't help it, I can't bear to see you get hurt. So uhh, what was that you said about me being your boyfriend?" Chad asked curiously, blushing a bit.

"You…you heard that, huh?" Rei said embarrassed, blushing as well. She smiled a bit, hearing him talk about how he wouldn't want to see her hurt. "I…I just meant to say friend, but you're a boy so…you know. I said the wrong thing on accident."

"Oh, of course." Chad said, nodding in agreement. Although he was sort of disappointed about her answer.

"That doesn't matter. Just promise me you won't do anything stupid like that again, alright?" Rei asked.

Chad shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, but I can't promise you that. If you're ever in trouble, I want to help you. Even if that means I might die from it. I just can't bear to see you get hurt."

"You jerk. You just love to make things hard, don't you." Rei muttered under her breath and looked away.

"Huh? What was that, Rei?" Chad asked, not hearing what she had said.

"N-nothing. Anyways, I'm just going to head back home for the night." Rei told him then looked down at her outfit and realized that she was still transformed. She looked back quickly and yelled out, "Hey! Look away!"

Chad blushed and did as she said and turned his back towards the trees. Out of his peripheral vision he could see a glow of light and then a few moments later turned back to see Rei back in her normal clothes. "Are you sure that you don't want me to go with you?" Chad asked.

This question made Rei's heart skip but she bit her tongue. "No, I can go back by myself." Rei replied, saying the exact opposite of what she wanted to say.

"Okay. Umm Rei, can I ask you something?" Chad asked her.

"Sure, what is it?" Rei asked, and waited for him to say something.

"Well, it just recently over the past week you've seemed really down about something. You're usually not like that, so is there something bothering you that you're not talking about, Rei?" Chad asked her then added, "Because you know, if you ever want to uhh…talk or anything, I'd be willing to listen. You can tell me anything if you want."

"You…really mean that?" Rei asked him.

"Of course! I mean, I know that I always do a lot of things that make you mad at me and I'm not your favorite person, but I'd love to help you with anything that I can." Chad told her, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Rei looked down for a few moments then cleared her throat and said, "Alright, if you really mean that I can tell you anything, then you're right there is something that's been bugging me. It's been bugging me a lot." Rei paused, fighting with herself inside to continue on. "I've been wanting to say this for way too long. I think you getting married to that girl is a horrible idea and you should come back to the shrine with me."

"That's what's been bothering you, Rei? Umm, but if that's what you've been wanting to say then why didn't you earlier?" Chad asked curiously. It wasn't like Rei to ever hold back or not express herself.

"Why? You really are dense, aren't you? Big dummy." Rei replied, looking away blushing a bit. "I didn't ever want to say anything because I didn't want to seem selfish and jealous. You see…I…I love you!" Rei blurted out.

"You uhh….uh.." Chad stuttered out in shock.

Rei felt as if there was a weight that was lifted from her shoulders so she continued on. "I love you and…when that girl showed up and said she was your wife, your fiancé, I became really jealous. And I was worried, worried that you were going to leave us. I wanted you to stay with me and Grandpa." Rei confessed, her big dark eyes staring up in to his. She slowly started to come back down. She backed away a little bit then added, "But see, now I just really seem like a selfish stupid little girl, don't I?"

"No….Rei…uhh…" Chad began, unsure of exactly what to say.

Rei shook her head, not giving him a chance to speak and said, "I'm sorry, I really am. It wasn't right for me to tell you that, especially when you're about to get married. I just couldn't hold it in anymore, I'm sorry. I need to go now." Rei ran off towards the shrine before she made an even bigger fool out of herself. She always called him an idiot, but she was the stupid one. At least that's what she thought.

Not having anything else to do, Chad walked through the park a little until he reached a small wooden bench to sit on. He leaned against the back and looked up at the starry night sky through his bangs hanging over his face. He couldn't believe that Rei had said she loved him. He had fallen for her the moment they met, but he had never in his wildest dreams would believe that she would ever feel the same about him. He couldn't see what a girl like her could ever see in a guy like him. He sighed and slipped his hand in to his inner coat pocket and pulled out a small diamond ring. It was an heirloom of his family that he was supposed to give to Kasumi. He held it up in front of the sky and slowly rolled it between his thumb and index finger. "Well….what do I do now?" He said to himself as his gaze looked over the small pond that was in the center of the park. There was a full moon out that night which was reflected in the water. He looked at the small ring in his hands for a few more minutes before he held it tightly in the center of his palm. He then looked out and threw it in to the middle of the pond, and watched it fall down in to the darkness.

The next morning Rei slipped on her miko uniform to begin her shrine duties for the day. She figured it was best for her to focus on what she needed to do instead of pouring herself out like she had the night before. But all the same she did feel relieved; at least she had finally said what she wanted to say. What she needed to say. Rei grabbed the broom and went out to the front of the shrine to begin sweeping the walkways and steps clean. She brushed the bottom of the broom across the white walkway. She looked though when she noticed what looked like someone sleeping on the steps of their shrine. Rei quickly frowned, figuring that it was maybe some drunk who had been out drinking all night and had passed out there. She started to march towards the sleeping person and called out in an annoyed voice, "Alright You! It's morning, so get out of here before you start driving visitors away."

The person let out a low groan and looked up. Chad turned his head towards Rei and said, "Oh umm, hey there."

Rei's eyes widened and she quickly ran to his side and helped him up to his feet. She noticed he had a small bag with him as well and asked, "What…what are you doing here?"

"Oh uhh…well you see, Miss. I had heard this shrine was looking for an extra hand, and I don't really have anywhere to go." Chad told him, saying something very similar to the first time they had met. He then dropped to his hands and knees in front of her and bowed deeply, his brow touching the ground. "Please Miss. If you and grandfather, the head of the shrine, would be so kind to take me in, then I promise to work hard no matter what!"

A small smile slowly crept across Rei's lips, a soft shade of pink spreading across her cheeks. She heard a pair of soft footsteps behind her and turned around to see her grandfather coming out. He must have seen and heard the whole thing.

"Is that so? Well my last apprentice did up and leave on me which has left a lot of work around here to be done, along with a spare room. So let's take a look at you." Rei's grandfather said as he raised Chad up and looked him over a few seconds then continued, "Well you're certainly a scruffy and stupid looking one, but you have seem to be an honest one. So I guess I might be willing to take you in and see how you do. What's your name?"

Chad looked up at Rei's grandfather and said, "It's Yuuichirou, but everyone calls me Chad."

"Chad, hm? I told you that you could stay, however I'm not the only one who lives here, so it's not only my decision." Rei's grandfather then looked up at her and asked, "Well Rei, what do you think? You're the only lady that lives here; do you think we should give this boy a chance?"

"…Yeah, I think we should. He seems like a really nice guy." Rei said happily, still smiling. She had also caught the sight of a faint blush on his face from the compliment.

"Well alright then. In that case, would you go show Chad our extra room and help him get settled in? I'll look after things out here for a while." Rei's grandfather told her.

Rei nodded and led Chad in to their home and back in to his old room. She opened the door to his room and stepped inside, waiting for him to come in as well. She decided to play along a little while longer and said, "Here it is, it's not much but I hope you like it."

"Not much? Are you kidding, it's really nice. I like it a lot." Chad said as he stepped inside with his bag slung over his shoulder. He turned back towards Rei and smiled, "I've really missed it."

"Oh? Is your room the only thing you've missed?" Rei asked curiously, a small smile on her face.

"Of course not! I've missed everything. The shrine, your grandfather, and…" He paused and blushed a bit, "And I've missed you most of all, Rei."

Rei looked down at her feet, feeling a little shy now. She didn't understand, she had never felt shy around a guy before so why now? She looked back up at him and replied, "I've missed you too. Both of us have. But…why did you come back?"

"I already told you, I have nowhere else left to go. I wasn't joking back there. I threw out a very valuable family heirloom. Because of that, I have been completely disowned by my family and left homeless." Chad said then started to laugh a little at the situation.

"You dummy! Why did you go and do something like that?" Rei asked.

"I did that so that I could come back to my real life. Rei, I may have been born in to that family and in to that life, but it was never supposed to be my life. I didn't fit in, and I never have. A year ago I left home to try to figure out where I belong and find myself, but instead I found something more amazing than I ever thought I would find. I found you. It wasn't really myself that I was looking for, I was looking for where I really belong. This is where I belong; with you, Rei. There's nowhere else I'd rather be." Chad explained, his big brown eyes staring straight in to her eyes.

Rei remained silent as she listened. She looked down a little, her eyes hidden by her dark bangs. She slowly walked over to the closet and opened it up. She reached inside for something then walked back to Chad. She held up his shrine uniform and looked at him. There was a tender smile on her face and tears in her eyes, "Welcome home, you big dummy."

The next morning, Rei woke up feeling refreshed and happier than ever. She quickly dressed for school then headed in to the kitchen to find Chad cooking breakfast and Grandpa reading over the paper. She smiled at the sight before her. She was so happy to see that things were finally back to normal. "Good morning." She called out in a happy voice.

"Ah, morning Rei." Grandpa said, looking up as he took a drink of coffee.

"Oh…G-good morning Rei!" Chad stuttered shyly before burning himself on the stove which made Grandpa start to laugh a little.

Rei giggled slightly. Ever since she had confessed to Chad, he had become even more shy and klutzy around her. She was worried he might start giving Usagi a run for her money for biggest klutz. Rei ate a quick breakfast and then made her way to school. As she walked up to the gate where some of her classmates were, she heard one of them say to her, "Hey Rei, isn't that the same guy who works at your grandfather's shrine coming this way?"

"I wonder if he's going to make himself look like an idiot again?" One of the other girls chirped in which made the rest laugh.

Rei turned around to see Chad on a bicycle riding quickly towards her, holding something in his hand. Unfortunately for him, he hit a small hole in the sidewalk with the front wheel of the bicycle which sent him flying over the top of the bicycle and came crashing down on to the ground near Rei's feet. The girls behind Rei started to burst out laughing at the sight. Rei simply cringed, that had looked like it hurt. Chad let out a low groan and looked up at Rei and held up a small bento box and said, "You uhh, you forgot your lunch again."

Rei sighed a little and then leaned down to help him up and said, "I swear, you need to watch where you're going more. Are you alright?"

Chad handed her the bento box and nodded, "Yeah, I'm okay. Don't worry about it."

"Good." Rei said then leaned up on the balls of her feet and wrapped one arm around Chad's neck as she leaned up to place a soft tender kiss on his lips. Rei kept her eyes closed and held the kiss for a few moments before slowly pulling back and going back down on to her feet. "Thanks for bringing it to me. I'll see you this afternoon at home so you should head on back before Grandpa needs your for something, okay?"

Chad whole face became red at the kiss. He slowly nodded and said, "Umm uhh…yeah." He then quickly went over to expect his bicycle before he picked it back up and rode back to the shrine.

Rei turned back towards the gate of the school and her classmates, smiling a little. The looks on their faces were priceless; she was glad she had intentionally forgotten her lunch at home, although Chad planting his face in the sidewalk again wasn't a part of the plan. She smiled at the questioning looks on their faces and said, "I have such a sweet boyfriend."

* * *

Well, that's the end. It took me pretty much all day and a lot of last night (too many distractions) but I was finally able to finish everything up. I thought I might do a long author's notes section and explain my thoughts and everything that went in to the story, what I was going for, themes, and all that. But I figured that'd be pretty boring and no one would be interested in that stuff. Hopefully the story speaks for itself. To put it simply I really like these two characters. Rei makes for a great lead and I think for male viewers Chad is the most relateable male character in the series, which is ironic since he was made only for the anime.

Thanks again for all of the support and taking an interest in the story, especially since there are so many different Sailor Moon fics out there to choose from. I hope everyone left with that warm fuzzy feeling inside. As always, thank you for reading and leave a review or comment if you wish.


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